The international jury of the 53rd annual
World Press Photo Contest has
selected a photo by the Italian photographer Pietro Masturzo as the World Press
Photo of the Year 2009. The picture depicts women shouting in protest from a
rooftop in Tehran on 24 June.
The winning photograph is part of a story
depicting the nights following the contested presidential elections in Iran,
when people shouted their dissent from roofs and balconies, after daytime
protests in the streets. The story as a whole was awarded first prize in the
category People in the News. View all winning images
here.
World Press Photo called Pietro Masturzo to tell him the news that his photo won
the top prize. You can listen to a recording of his reaction
here.
The conclusion of the jury
Jury chair Ayperi Karabuda Ecer said: "The photo shows the beginning of
something, the beginning of a huge story. It adds perspectives to news. It
touches you both visually and emotionally, and my heart went out to it
immediately."
Fellow juror Guy Tillim commented: "The difficulty in photographing conflict
situations is one of portraying the parallel lives involved, of people going on
with their lives. This picture has made a very good attempt at marrying these
two elements, in giving the conflict a context - and that is a holy grail of
photography. The photographer does it with a very beautiful image of an Iranian
landscape, which would be worth looking at in itself. But it also arouses our
curiosity about the woman shouting - incorporating this moment, the importance
of this historical event. It represents a very honest and successful attempt at
taking forward our vocabulary of showing things."
Juror Kate Edwards said: "The photo has a powerful sense of atmosphere, tension,
fear - but also of quietness and calm, and in this sense was a challenge as a
choice. We were looking for an image that drew you in, took you deeper, made you
think more - not just about showing what we already know, but something that
asks more of us."
2010 contest statistics
The jury gave prizes in ten themed categories to 63 photographers of 23
nationalities from: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Ecuador,
France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mali, Mexico, the Netherlands,
Palestinian Territories, Peru, Somalia, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and
the United States.
During the two-week judging, the jury viewed a record number of photographs with
101,960 images submitted by 5,847 photographers. The photographers represent 128
different nationalities.
Entries by photographers from Asia continued a steady increase, with the
majority of entries coming from China with 586 submissions (2009:490) and
Indonesia with 107 submissions (2009: 77). Africa also had a higher number of
entries, with a 7.5% increase. European photographers were well represented,
with a significant increase from photographers from Italy with 370 entries
(2009: 306) and Russia with 156 entries (2009: 130).
The 2010 jury
The two-week judging period brought together 19 picture editors, photographers
and representatives of press agencies from around the world. The members of the
2010 jury were:
Chair:
Ayperi Karabuda Ecer, Sweden/Turkey, vice president pictures Reuters
Members:
Harry Borden, UK, photographer
Saurabh Das, India, photographer The Associated Press
Kate Edwards, UK, picture editor Guardian Weekend Magazine
Bill Frakes, USA, photographer Sports Illustrated
David Griffin, USA, director of photography National Geographic
magazine
Hideko Kataoka, Japan, director of photography Newsweek, Japan
Guy Tillim, South Africa, photographer
Stephan Vanfleteren, Belgium, photographer
Secretaries:
Daphné Anglès, France/USA, European picture coordinator The New York Times
Stephen Mayes, UK, managing director VII Photo Agency
For the 2010 contest, specialized juries took part in the initial rounds of
judging for the categories Sports, Nature and Portraits. The specialized juries
were created with the intention of bringing more focus to the categories, and
raising the overall standard even further. The members of the specialized juries
brought extensive experience, knowledge and their diverse perspectives to
enhance the judging process. After the specialized juries judged their
categories in the first part of the contest, one representative per category
joined the general jury for the final round, to ensure continuity. The members
of the specialized juries were:
Sports:
Bill Frakes, USA, photographer Sports Illustrated
Giovanna Calvenzi, Italy, picture editor Sportweek / La Gazetta
dello Sport
Adam Pretty, Australia, photographer Getty Images
Nature:
David Griffin, USA, director of photography National Geographic
magazine
Magdalena Herrera, France/Cuba, director of photography Geo, France
Mattias Klum, Sweden, photographer and filmmaker
Portraits:
Harry Borden, UK, photographer
Laurie Kratochvil, USA, photography consultant
Charlotte Cotton, UK, creative director National Media Museum, London
News & documentary:
Ayperi Karabuda Ecer, Sweden/Turkey, vice president pictures Reuters
Volker Lensch, Germany, head of photo department Stern
Laura Serani, Italy, freelance curator
Marizilda Cruppe, Brazil, photographer O Globo / Eve Photographers
Yuri Kozyrev, Russia, photographer Noor
Awards Days and 2010 exhibition
Pietro Masturzo, the author of the World Press Photo of the Year 2009, will
receive his award during an awards ceremony in Amsterdam on Sunday, 2 May 2010.
The award also carries a cash prize of €10,000. In addition, Canon will donate a
Canon EOS Digital SLR Camera and lens kit to Masturzo.
The awards ceremony is preceded by a two-day program of lectures, discussions
and screenings of photography. The exhibition of prize-winning photography will
be shown at the Oude Kerk from 23 April to 20 June and subsequently visit over
100 locations around the world. For a provisional exhibition schedule, visit:
http://www.worldpressphoto.org/exhibitions?bandwidth=high.
World Press Photo receives support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery and is
sponsored worldwide by Canon and TNT.
