The winners of the 2016 Word Press Photo Contest have been announced, with Australian photographer Warren Richardson taking first prize.
The Word Press Photo Foundation, established in 1955, aims to inspire, educate and support visual journalists and engage public and professional circles with photojournalism. The organisation is based in Amsterdam, and each year they receive submissions from around the globe. The categories from the World Press Photo Contest include Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, General News, Long-Term Projects, Nature, People, Sports, and Spot News.
The winner of the Press Photo of the Year 2015 award and the Spot News category was Aussie photographer Warren Richardson, with his striking image of a refugee man passing a baby under barbed wire to a fellow refugee. Richardson camped with 200 people as they attempted to cross the border between Serbia and Hungary.
“I camped with the refugees for five days on the border. A group of about 200 people arrived, and they moved under the trees along the fence line. They sent women and children, then fathers and elderly men first. I must have been with this crew for about five hours and we played cat and mouse with the police the whole night. I was exhausted by the time I took the picture. It was around three o’clock in the morning and you can’t use a flash while the police are trying to find these people, because I would just give them away. So I had to use the moonlight alone.”
Richardson wrote about the night on his website, fully revealing the desperation of the Syrian refugees he camped with and the delicacy of their situation. His recount paints a dark, frightening picture of the trials that refugees face.
“There was a group of Syrians hiding amongst the apple trees on the Serbian side of the border with Hungary, their challenge was to put as many people under the newly constructed razor wire fence. In the group there were some ten engineers that had taken a good look at the fence to see where they could cross so that they could get as many of their friends and family members into Hungary.
“Like a finely tuned machine, they played cat and mouse with the Hungarian police. The police would come and go from near where the Syrian group was hiding. Each time the police showed up, they would try to fix the fence so that people would not go under. But each time the police would leave, the Syrian engineers would make another hole so that they could help as many people as possible get under the fence…
“Four hours on from when they started, they had helped more than 200 people go under the razor wire fence. Once everyone had passed under the fence, the Syrian engineers said their last goodbyes to me, and left as they were the last ones to go into the darkness of the night.”
Check out other winning works from the World Press Photo categories below.
