Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, San Francisco Chronicle, Photographer of the Year, Local

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, San Francisco Chronicle, Photographer of the Year, Local

Photojournalism Events

Pictures of the Year announces 78th competition winners

Jennifer Nelson
Jennifer Nelson-Pallikkathayil
  • New danger to underwater life 'Covid-19 wastes' According to a report prepared by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), plastic waste equivalent to 33,880 plastic bottles is being mixed into the Mediterranean per minute. one of the countries hit most plastic waste coming to the shores of Italy and then Turkey. The medical wastes used during the pandemic process we live in reach the seas due to the human factor and winds. While plastics and garbage in the world pose a great danger to our seas, "medical wastes", which are newly included in these garbage, point to bigger problems and an irreversible environmental pollution.
  • Dollie ready to land on the balcony door, where I installed a camera. She lands on the camera lens instead and uses the higher vantage point to check out if the coast is clear before entering the kitchen. 'Pandemic Pigeons: A Love Story,' chronicles the lives of Ollie and Dollie, a pair of bold pigeons that has befriended my family while isolating in our apartment in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before we knew it, Ollie and Dollie became regulars in our house. Their daily visits have become a reminder of another reality: the fact that we are not alone on this planet, and we need to share it with all living beings as if our lives depend on it. Even while isolating in a concrete jungle. Some people believe that by living in an urban world, these birds avoid the rules of nature, but the opposite is true. Not only do pigeons face predators, food shortages, and competition for nesting sites, but they’re also subject to the whims of human society. Weaker pigeons still manage to stretch their fate by begging for crumbs in the streets, and it’s these bottom-rung pigeons that shape the species’ overall reputation. It’s fascinating to me that while many of the animals we don’t interact with are our most-loved, the animals we draw into our lives unintentionally are often the most hated. Pigeons must be one of the most unloved birds around. But we’ve got to know them as intelligent and social birds. Before we knew it, Ollie and Dollie became regulars in our house. Their daily visits have become a reminder of another reality: We are not alone on this planet, and we need to share it with all living beings as if our lives depend on it. Even while isolating in a concrete jungle.
  • Anais, 26, who wants to remove the Emancipation statue in Lincoln Park in Washington, DC, argues with a man who argues to keep it, June 25th, 2020. Critics say the Emancipation Memorial — which shows Lincoln holding a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation as an African American man in a loincloth kneels at his feet — is demeaning in its depiction of African Americans. The drive to remove the statue comes amid a wave of calls to take down monuments of Confederate generals.
  • WANTAGH, NEW YORK - MAY 24: Olivia Grant (R) hugs her grandmother, Mary Grace Sileo through a plastic drop cloth hung up on a homemade clothes line during Memorial Day Weekend on May 24, 2020 in Wantagh, New York. It is the first time they have had contact of any kind since the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic lockdown started in late February. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
  • Residents of a Syrian destroyed neighborhood have an Iftar (breaking fast) meal together in Al Atarib town, during the Muslim's holy fasting month of Ramadan. A group of volunteers prepared a mass Iftar for the displaced residents of a neighborhood that was completely destroyed during the military operations in the countryside of Aleppo province.
  • An image of veteran Francis Foley is projected onto the home of his wife, Dale Foley, left, as she looks out a window with their daughter, Keri Rutherford, in Chicopee, Mass., Wednesday, April 29, 2020. Foley, a U.S. Army veteran and resident of the Soldier's Home in Holyoke, Mass., died from the COVID-19 virus at the age of 84. Foley never learned to read music but could play any song by ear. He loved a cup of coffee and something sweet from Dunkin’ Donuts. He kept the nurses at the home laughing. He was fiercely protective of his family. Ask his family about the man they lost, and the words flow easily about the card-carrying union carpenter, Army veteran, devoted husband of 54 years and father of four. “He was strong. He was funny. He was engaging. He was ornery. He was feisty,” his daughter, Keri, says. “He was still full of life. And then within days, he’s gone.”
  • Giovanni acting The King Fish (a human king with a fish soul) during a "solo" performance of shadows behind a curtain made with an old bed sheet. The King Fish is an invented story by Giovanni, of a powerful king who was able to escape the upper ground world and take refuge under the waters, but he misses a lot the breeze, the flowers and the animals of the world above. We ended up creating a universe of dreams in complete darkness thanks to the boys’ connection with the natural environment.
  • In the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Police in Minneapolis, Anger and frustration boiled over into loud cries for justice. Protests against police brutality erupted both in big cities and small towns across the country. In New York City and its suburbs, Protestors, and allies of the Black Lives matter movement took to the streets. - Protestors march on the Brooklyn Bridge towards Manhattan after a memorial service for George Floyd, whose death in police custody, in Minneapolis, sparked nationwide protests and riots. Thursday June 4, 2020
  • FLIGHT OVER THE U.S. - OCTOBER 22: The final presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden appears on screens during a flight from Detroit on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. (Salwan Georges / The Washington Post)
  • Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, right, kneels as the hearse of George Floyd arrives to North Central University ahead of funeral service on Thursday, June 4, 2020, in Minneapolis, MN. Protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd while in police custody has erupted across the country.
  • Debra Holloway prays over her mother Tessie HenryÍs casket before saying goodbye to her after Covid-19 at the age of 83 is buried on Wednesday, April 8, 2020, in Colma, California.
  • (L-r) Homeless child Theo Schrager, 7, holds on to his mom Leah Naomi GonzalesÕ hand as he cries out ÒPuppies, I want puppies.Ó as they look for puppies at their friends tent under the Gilman Street underpass in Berkeley, California, on Friday, June 12, 2020. They spent the afternoon looking for their friend Elf who has two new puppies. Theo loves dogs and desperately wants one. ÒMama, I want one and I want one now.Ó Theo declared. She answered, Ò Theo, I have way too much to take care of. ThereÕs just no way we can have a dog in that hotel room.Ó
  • Michael Hermosillo #21 of the Los Angeles Angels catches a fly ball hit by Robbie Grossman #8 of the Oakland Athletics for the final out of their game at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on July 25, 2020 in Oakland, California. The 2020 season had been postponed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Athletics put stuffed animals and card board cutouts in one section of the empty stands.
  • A view of ancient Hasankeyf is about to be flooded with its history which goes back approximately 12,000 years ago. With the completion of the Ilõsu Dam, the evidence of many existed civilizations along with their historical ruins will be vanished. The photo was taken on Sep. 15, 2019 My project tells the story about people from the Hasankeyf where is one of the oldest inhabited places in the world, who had to leave their ancient villages left underwater. Hasankeyf is located in the area of Mesopotamia that is also known as the Cradle of Civilizations, where both eastern and western civilizations have lived for over 12,000 years. The Ilõsu Dam and the hydroelectric power plant (HPP) project construction began in 2006 and was completed in 2019. In June 2019 the floodgates were closed in order to keep water inside. The Ilõsu dam project, along with other dams built in this region, is a reflection of the state's water policies. For this reason, as an open-air museum with many layers of time, Hasankeyf meets most of the required criteria to merit UNESCO's World Heritage status, yet it has not been submitted nomination proposals by the state. The Tigris Valley is in the ancient silk road, an area of approximately 100 km was buried underwater. 12,000 years of HasankeyfÕs history, hundreds of endemic species, and approximately 300 archaeological sites were affected by the dam's water retention, furthermore, around 100,000 people were forced to migrate. Regarding the Ilõsu Project, a total of 199 villages of Batman, Siirt, Diyarbakir, Mardin, Sirnak, and Hasankeyf, were completely submerged. Most of the population of these villages are of Kurdish and Arab origin. These people had to gain new experiences that they have never had before to overcome these extraordinary circumstances. For instance, a woman carried her husband's grave while another eighty-year-old woman got on the boat for the first time in her life, both had to make an effort to adapt to the fact that the whole process brought to their lives. My project aims to emphasize the obliged migration of culture to different places with a burdened journey.
  • María Isolina Pupiales, 38 years old, and her daughter Sharik Nayeli Guatemal, 15 years old, singers from the Karanki indigenous community, pose for a portrait at their house on the afternoon of October 10, 2020. San Clemente, Ibarra-Ecuador.
Select a thumbnail to enlarge the image and read its caption

The judging of the 78th annual Pictures of the Year International, the oldest and most prestigious photojournalism contest, recently wrapped up with a new group of winners. This year’s contest brought in nearly 40,000 images, along with short films and online storytelling presentations.

“The judging of the images and stories in POY this year was unique,” said POY Director Lynden Steele. “Not only was it held virtually because of the pandemic, the jury panels were acutely aware of the historic nature of the work and their decisions. In addition to the pandemic, there was an international movement inspired by Black Lives Matter, as well as a contentious U.S. presidential election. Their selections reflect not only the best coverage of the news from this past year, but define how we see ourselves during this time in history.”

 There is a full winners list on the POY site. Here are a few of the premiere winners:

Gabrielle Lurie, staff photographer at the San Francisco Chronicle won Photographer of the Year, Local.

Washington Post staff photographer Salwan Georges has been named the Photographer of the Year, International.

This year’s Sports Photographer of the Year is Ezra Shaw, staff photographer with Getty Images.

Two New York Times journalists won premiere awards. Photo Editor Jeffrey Furticella was named the Visual Editor of the Year and Yousur Al-Hlou was awarded Documentary Storyteller of the Year.

Independent Ecuadorian journalist Johis Alarcón received the Community Awareness Award for “I am, Still.” This award recognizes a photographer’s work portraying everyday life of people in a community. Her project documents life in the Karanki indigenous community in the north Ecuadorian Highlands.

Newsday received the Local Team Picture Story of the Year, a new premiere category this year for “Justice for George Floyd.” This category recognizes the collaborative effort of journalists covering a single story in their own community.

The Environmental Vision Award was given to independent Turkish journalist Mustafa Bilge Satkin. This award recognizes a photographer’s long-term project covering human’s impact on the environment. Satkin’s project documented the migration of about 100,000 people from Hasankeyf due to the Ilisu Dam project that submerged nearly 200 villages where people have lived for 12,000 years, in one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world.

Independent Italian journalist Elisabeth Zavoli received the COVID-19 Personal Expression award for “And in the Darkness You Find Colors.” This year the contest introduced this new category and allowed entrants to submit an interpretive photo project that allowed photo manipulation, which was not allowed in other categories. Entrants were asked to submit work that “reflected the personal experience, feelings and thoughts related to COVID-19.” With the help of her two sons, Zavoli created a fantasy world to escape the isolation and stress of the pandemic within the confines of their garden.

Independent journalist Weixi Chen received first place for Documentary Journalism for “Wuhan on the Sixth Floor,” a film documenting how medical staff at a Wuhan hospital responded in the first days of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The New York Times visual team, led by Director of Photography Meaghan Looram, received the Angus McDougall Excellence in Editing Award. This category recognizes the very best in visual editing by a media organization across all platforms.

View a full list of winners and finalists here at POY’s website.

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