The World Press Photo of the Year honors the photographer whose visual creativity and skills made a picture that captures or represents an event or issue of great journalistic importance in the last year.
The jury of the 60th annual Photo Contest selected an image by Turkish photographer Burhan Ozbilici as the ‘World Press Photo of the Year’. Burhan Ozbilici’s picture – which also won first prize in the Spot News Stories category – shows how Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, a 22-year-old off-duty police officer, assassinated the Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, at an art exhibition in Ankara, Turkey, on December 19, 2016. Altıntaş wounded three other people before being killed by officers in a shootout. Ozbilici is a staff photographer for The Associated Press, based in Istanbul.
The premier award carries a cash prize of 10,000 euros, as well as a selection of camera equipment from Canon.
“It was a very very difficult decision, but in the end we felt that the Picture of the Year was an explosive image that really spoke to the hatred of our times,” noted Mary F. Calvert, a member of the jury.
Another jury member, João Silva added: “Right now I see the world marching towards the edge of an abyss. This is a man who has clearly reached a breaking point and his statement is to assassinate someone who he really blames, a country that he blames, for what is going on elsewhere in the region. It is the face of hatred.”
Jury member Tanya Habjouqa added: “It was a very intense, sometimes brutal, discussion – sometimes even emotional – but I think the selection is definitely going to push forward a debate and I think it is a debate that is essential to have.”
The 2017 contest drew entries from around the world: 5,034 photographers from 125 countries submitted 80,408 images. The jury gave prizes in eight categories to 45 photographers from 25 countries.
The prize-winning photographs are assembled into an exhibition that travels to 45 countries and is seen by more than 4 million people each year. In Macau, the images are on display at Casa Garden next to Camões Gardens until October 22. Visiting hours are daily from10.00 to 19.00.
