The winners of the year’s most highly anticipated photojournalism contest have been announced. At the April 11 awards ceremony in Amsterdam, American photojournalist John Moore took home the top honor at the 62nd annual World Press Photo Contest. His haunting image of a Honduran toddler wailing as her mother is searched by US Border Patrol in Texas was named 2019 World Press Photo of the Year.
Moore’s imagery sums up the US government’s policy of separating families at the border, reinforcing why the public outcry against these practices was so strong. As a senior staff photographer and special correspondent for Getty Images, Moore has been focusing on immigration and border issues since 2008. It’s thanks to the dedication of Moore and many others that the public is forced to face the reality of political policies and take appropriate action.
“[The photograph] immediately tells you so much about the story,” shares Alice Martins, photojournalist and jury member. “And at the same time, it really makes you feel so connected to it… This picture shows a different kind of violence that is psychological.”
It was Moore’s ability to combine his technical prowess and storytelling capabilities to produce a jarring image that is impossible to look away from that helped him win the prestigious award. Interestingly, issues of immigration at the US border also carried through to the World Press Photo Story of the Year. Pieter Ten Hoopen was awarded the top prize for his photo story titled The Migrant Caravan. The series documents a 7,000-person grassroots migrant caravan from Honduras in a tale of desperation, perseverance, and hope.
“I wanted to cover what it means to be on the road to a new life—or what people hope to become a new life,” Ten Hoopen explains. “I wanted to focus on the human aspects, on relations between the people and how they handle it.”
In addition to the main prizes, individual category winners were named for single images and stories across eight categories. Many of the winning category photographers were also nominated for World Press Photo of the Year, making it clear just how competitive the contest was. Judged by a panel of 17 professionals from six global regions, with an equal balance of men and women, the competition continues its reputation for awarding outstanding talent.
The prize-winning photographs will now embark on a year-long traveling exhibition. Seen by over 4 million people in 45 different countries, the exhibit allows the important global issues documented by these photojournalists to be seen by a wider audience.
The winners of the 2019 World Press Photo contest represent the best of international photojournalism.
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