In Contemporary issues, Zhang Lei’s 1st prize singles winning aerial shot of row-upon-row of vast urban housing complexes in northern China shrouded in haze is suitably Orwellian. The 1st prize stories goes to Portugese photographer Mário Cruz for his photo essay portraying the plight of Talibes, boys who live at Islamic schools known as Daaras in Senegal, mistreated and forced to beg to pay their guardians. Francesco Zizola’s photo essay, In the same boat, capturing migrants being rescued in the Strait of Sicily, wins 2nd prize. It also produced one of the standout images – of refugees wrapped in emergency blankets as they approach the Italian coast for the first time.
China’s Coal Dependence A Challenge For Climate © Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Canadian photographer Kevin Frayer collects two awards in the Daily life categories, winning 1st prize singles with a shot of Chinese men pulling a tricycle next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China, and 2nd prize stories for his dispatch from the annual Bliss Dharma Assembly. The 1st prize stories goes to Daniel Berehulak, another Australian, and a veteran of the contest with three prior wins, with a photo essay from Antarctica, where new research bases are proliferating as ever greater numbers of countries stake their claim. He also wins 3rd prize stories in General news for his reporting on the Nepal earthquake.
Into the Light © Zohreh Saberi/Mehrnews
Mauricio Lima is recognised a second time this year with his 2nd prize singles win for a shot of indigenous Munduruku children playing in the Tapajos river in the tribal area of Sawre Muybu, Itaituba, Brazil. The 3rd prize singles goes to Zohreh Saberi of Iran’s Mehrnews Agency for a stunning portrait of blind child standing in the light of a window. The 3rd prize stories goes to Sebastián Liste of Spain for his story on a group of friends from Alemão, a slum in Rio de Janeiro, who have formed a media collective called Papo Reto, or ‘straight talk’, reporting stories from their community that are otherwise ignored by traditional media.
February 2015 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Papo Reto collective members taking pictures and recording videos of the Special Police Forces (BOPE) tank-car patrolling in the streets of Vila Aliança, a favela near Complexo do Alemao. After a militar police cop kill a mototaxi driver in the streets of the favela, several cars and high caliber armed cops invaded the streets in alert of a possible confrontation with the gangs and from the population. © Sebastián Liste
