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In a striking departure from past years, the World Press Photo top prize was given not for a hard-news image, but was awarded to John Stanmeyer for a photo of African migrants in Djibouti trying to capture a faint signal that provides a tenuous link to relatives in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Eschewing the usual themes of war, poverty or violence, the image touches on universal themes of migration, technology and globalization, said Mr. Stanmeyer, a founding member of VII.
“We migrate looking for a better life, but we always need to connect home,” Mr. Stanmeyer said in a phone conversation from his home in Western Massachusetts. “I could be any one of those people trying to reach my family. I’m on the road 250 days a year.”
The announcement of Mr. Stanmeyer’s win was overshadowed by the disclosure that more than nine percent of the contest’s shortlisted images were disqualified because of removing information in post-processing. After an outside expert studied the raw files and jpegs and found evidence indicating there had been removing or adding information through cloning or extreme toning, said Gary Knight, the jury chairman. He said it was obvious that the offending images were “materially and substantially changed,” even if the changes were not excessive.
“As a photographer, I reacted with real horror and considerable pain because some of the changes were materially trivial but they were ethically significant,” said Mr. Knight, who is a founding member of VII photo agency. “In every single case it was a meaningless and stupid process. None of the photographers improved their work and if they hadn’t done it they may well have been up for consideration.”
World Press publicly announced last year that raw files would be reviewed in future contests after a controversy over the toning of last year’s winning photo of a father carrying his dead child in Gaza. Mr. Knight said that World Press would be notifying the offending photographers that they were excluded.
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The World Press Photo Contest
Winners from past contests have included Paul Hansen, Samuel Aranda, Jodi Bieber and Pietro Masturzo.
Mr. Knight said that although he had asked to be removed from the final judging because of his friendship and professional relationship with Mr. Stanmeyer, the World Press rules did not allow for it. He emphasized that at every level there was complete transparency. “If anything,” he said, “I was a hindrance for John getting the award, not a help.”
Philippe Lopez, of Agence France-Presse, won first place Spot News for a photo of a religious procession after typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines (Slide 3). Alessandro Penso received first prize general news for a photo of an abandoned school in Bulgaria used to house 800 Syrian refugees (Slide 8). Goran Tomasevic of Reuters won first for spot news photo stories for his photos of the Syrian war (Slide 2)and Tyler Hicks of The New York Times was awarded second place for his photographs of a terrorist attack in a Kenyan mall (Slide 6).
Other winners include Andrea Bruce, second place for daily life single for The New York Times, Sara Lewkowicz, contemporary issues stories for Time magazine (Slide 7), and Brent Stirton, first prize singles in staged portraits.
Mr. Stanmeyers’s winning image was taken in Djibouti, a common stop-off point for migrants in transit from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as they seek a better life in Europe and the Middle East. The picture also won 1st Prize in the Contemporary Issues category, and was made on assignment for National Geographic.
David Guttenfelder, a juror who has won seven World Press awards, including two firsts, said that he considers the photo to be a news photo nonetheless because it touches on important issues, like migration, that often dominate the news. He also said that the jury knew that it might be controversial.
“It might provoke debate but will signal to photographers that they can cover events with a different visual language and they will be taken seriously,” said Mr. Guttenfelder, an Associated Press photographer.
Mr. Stanmeyer said that his own mother had a “tenuous” journey to the United States from Austria after World War II.
“It could be any one of us trying to talk with our families far away,” he said. “But I am particularly happy to be receiving this award while at my home in the Berkshires with my wife and three children who are home because of a snow day.”
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