Photo of Venezuela unrest wins World Press Photo contest
COURTESY WORLD PRESS PHOTO
This image won the World Press Photo of the Year and first prize in the Spot News singles category. “Venezuela Crisis,” by Ronaldo Schemidt for Agence France-Presse, shows José Víctor Salazar Balza catching fire amid violent clashes with riot police during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2017.
AMSTERDAM >> A spine-tingling photo of a young man on fire during clashes in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas during the protest against President Nicolas Maduro has won the World Press Photo of the Year.
The photo by Agence France-Presse journalist Ronaldo Schemidt won both the overall honors and the category for Spot News Single today in Amsterdam. Jury chair Magdalena Herrera called it “a classical photo” that gave her “an instantaneous emotion.”
The photo shows a man who was in flames after a gas tank on his motorcycle exploded. He escaped with second-degree burns. Schemidt is a photographer for AFP based in Mexico.
In all, 4,548 photographers from 125 countries entered photos in eight categories.
The top photo won a prize worth $12,300.
