De Deense fotograaf Mads Nissen is dit jaar de winnaar van World Press Photo. Het winnende beeld is een nachtelijke bedscène van een homo-stel in St. Petersburg in Rusland. Nissen: ‘Ik fotografeerde er ook demonstraties en anti-homo-geweld, maar ik wilde per se naast de haat een beeld van liefde geven.’
De voorzitter van de jury, Michelle McNally – fotochef en adjunct-hoofdredacteur van de New York Times – noemt het onderwerp van de winnende foto ‘a big issue’ en onderstreept de keuze voor de winnende foto als een ‘statement’.
PhotoQ Special: video-verslag van de persconferentie met Mads Nissen, Michele McNally en Lars Boering
Uit het Engelse persbericht van de organisatie:
WORLD PRESS PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2014 GOES TO MADS NISSEN
The jury of the 58th annual World Press Photo Contest has selected an image by Danish photographer Mads Nissen as the World Press Photo of the Year 2014. Nissen is a staff photographer for the Danish daily newspaper Politiken and is represented by Panos Pictures. The picture shows Jon and Alex, a gay couple, during an intimate moment in St Petersburg, Russia. Life for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people is becoming increasingly difficult in Russia. Sexual minorities face legal and social discrimination, harassment, and even violent hate-crime attacks from conservative religious and nationalistic groups. The winning picture is part of a larger project by Nissen called “Homophobia in Russia” which was shot for Scanpix.
The photo also won 1st Prize in the Contemporary Issues category. Discover all of the winners and the awarded photos in an image gallery at http://www.worldpressphoto.org/awards/2015 along with exclusive jury interviews.
Comments on the winners by the jury
Jury chair Michele McNally, director of photography and assistant managing editor of The New York Times, said: “It is an historic time for the image… the winning image needs to be aesthetic, to have impact, and to have the potential to become iconic. This photo is aesthetically powerful, and it has humanity.”
Alessia Glaviano said:
“The photo has a message about love being an answer in the context of all that is going on in the world. It is about love as a global issue, in a way that transcends homosexuality. It sends out a strong message to the world, not just about homosexuality, but about equality, about gender, about being black or white, about all of the issues related to minorities.”
Donald Weber commented:
“World Press Photo is more interesting than being just a competition. The winning image fosters debate not only within the photo community, about who we are and where we’re going and what we’re trying to say, but also in the larger community. The images are seen and discussed by tens of thousands of people.”
2015 Photo Contest in numbers
The 2015 Contest drew entries from around the world: 97,912 images were submitted by 5,692 press photographers, photojournalists, and documentary photographers from 131 countries. The jury gave prizes in 8 themed categories to 42 photographers of 17 nationalities from: Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, China, Denmark, Eritrea, France, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, UK and USA.
2015 Photo Contest jury and procedures
A group of 17 internationally recognized professionals in the fields of photojournalism and documentary photography, chaired this year by Michele McNally, director of photography and assistant managing editor of The New York Times, convened in the World Press Photo office in Amsterdam to judge all entries.
All entries were presented anonymously to the jury, who discussed their merits while operating independently of World Press Photo. A secretary without voting rights safeguards the fairness of the procedure. For the full list of jury members and secretaries, click here: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/2015-photo-contest/jury
Prizes
The premier award, the World Press Photo of the Year, carries a cash prize of 10,000 euros. In addition, Canon will donate a professional DSLR camera and lens kit to the winning photographer of the World Press Photo of the Year 2014. The jury gives first, second and third prizes in all categories. First-prize winners in each category receive a cash prize of 1,500 euros. Winners of second and third prizes, and those receiving honorable mention, receive a Golden Eye Award and a diploma. The annual Awards Days, a two-day celebration of the prizewinners, takes place in Amsterdam on 24 and 25 April 2015.
Exhibition
The prize-winning pictures are presented in an exhibition visiting around 100 cities in about 45 countries. The first 2015 World Press Photo exhibition opens in Amsterdam in De Nieuwe Kerk on 18 April 2015.
This year’s exhibition displays will be printed on Canon large format printers and Arizona flatbed printers by Océ, which is part of the Canon Group. Please see www.canon-europe.com for further information.