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This year’s World Press Photo goes to Japanese photographer Yasuyoshi Chiba. Chiba receives the award for his photo Straight voice, made for the AFP news agency. The photo shows a protester in Sudan reciting a poem in the middle of a protest.
Because the military authority against which the protests were directed had cut the electricity, the photographed man is illuminated by the lights of his passers-by’s mobile phones.
Yasuyoshi Chiba, AFP
“I’m very happy, of course, but it still feels surreal,” says Chiba. News time about winning the prize. Receive a cash prize of 10,000 euros. Normally, the World Press Photo is presented at a special ceremony in Amsterdam. It was canceled this year due to the corona virus. “I received the news with my family at home. In this situation, I couldn’t come to Amsterdam for the award ceremony. So I still wonder if this is real.”
Coincidence
Chiba took his winning photo among the protesters who demanded more power from the Sudanese people. “The protest was a circus of different people. Young generations and also older men. There was a group of women to my right, also singing.”
“When the boy who recited the poem breathed, everyone shouted ‘revolution’ in Arabic. It was a very strong moment.”
When Chiba took the photo, he did not realize that the boy was singing poetry. “I had to hear that from my colleagues, because I don’t understand Arabic. That he read a poem in such a situation was really a surprise to me.”
“The photo is a good example of my work. You never know what will happen. Even now I had no expectations. But then it happened, something very emotional. That is, of course, a coincidence, but being a photographer is very important.” in order to capture that moment. “
Finally, the protest in Sudan was successful: President Omar al-Bashir was charged and the opposition signed an agreement with the military to divide power.
Youth confront those in power
Chiba thinks her own photo is strong because it says something about the protesters. “When you talk about the protesters, you can’t imagine what kind of people they are. But when you read that they are reciting poetry, you get a much better picture of the protesters and their diversity. They use poetry as a form of protest. That’s why I like it. this picture “.
The jury praised the photo for giving the young man a voice. “It is a photo of a young person who opposes the authorities,” said the president of the jury, Lekgetho Makola.
“The six nominated photos represent an important element that emerges. And that is of a global youth that is much more involved in writing their future. A youth who is in power, who can hinder their progress and jeopardize their future., appeal and confront, “says Makola.
See in this article the other five nominated photos and read the stories behind them:
The World Press Photo is presented annually to a photographer whose “creativity and visual skills have captured an important event of great journalistic importance.”
Last year the award went to American John Moore for his photo of the Girl crying at the border A photo of the Honduran girl Yanela who cries with her mother Sandra Sánchez. US border authorities are looking for her in McAllen, Texas. After that photo was published, public protests erupted across the world.
