World Press Photo of the Year 2008: Anthony Suau, USA, for Time. US Economy in Crisis: Following eviction, Detective Robert Kole must ensure residents have moved out of their home, Cleveland, Ohio, 26 March
US photographer Anthony Suau has won Photo of the Year at the 52nd World Press Photo contest. Suau’s winning photograph shows an armed officer of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department moving through a home in Cleveland, Ohio, following an eviction as a result of mortgage foreclosure. As jury chair MaryAnne Golon points out, the image is “a double entendre. It looks like a classic conflict photograph, but it is simply the eviction of people from a house…. Now war in its classic sense is coming into people’s houses because they can’t pay their mortgages.”
Here are some of the other winning photographs, with details of their category and subject matter included below:
1st prize Daily Life Stories: Brenda Ann Kenneally, USA, for The New York Times Magazine. Troy, New York
1st prize People in the News Stories: Callie Shell, USA, Aurora Photos for Time. Barack Obama presidential campaign, January-October
3rd prize Daily Life Singles: Tomasz Wiech, Poland, Gazeta Wyborcza Krakow. Corporate breakfast, Poland
1st prize Contemporary Issues Stories: Carlos Cazalis, Mexico, Corbis. Homeless, São Paulo, Brazil
1st prize People in the News Singles: Chiba Yasuyoshi, Japan, Agence France-Presse. Inter-tribal conflict, Western Kenya, 1 March
1st prize Nature Stories: Steve Winter, USA, National Geographic Magazine. Snow Leopards: Out of the Shadows
1st prize Spot News Singles: Chen Qinggang, China, Hangzhou Daily. Rescue troops carry earthquake survivor, Beichuan County, China, 14 May
3rd prize General News Stories: Olivier Laban Mattei, France, Agence France-Presse. Myanmar (Burma) cyclone aftermath, May
1st prize Sports Features Stories: Zhao Qing, China, China Youth Daily. Olympics on TV in Beijing
1st prize Contemporary Issues Singles: Mashid Mohadjerin, Belgium, Reporters. Coastguards spot a boat with refugees, off Lampedusa, Italy, 30 July
1st prize General News Singles: Luiz Vasconcelos, Brazil, Jornal A Crítica/Zuma Press. Woman tries to stop forced eviction of her people, Manaus, Brazil, 10 March
3rd prize Spot News Stories: Wojciech Grzedzinski, Poland, Napo Images for Dziennik. Georgian conflict, August
The awards ceremony in May preceded by a three-day program of lectures, discussions and screenings of photography. The exhibition of prizewinners will be shown at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam from 4 May to 28 June and will subsequently visit over 100 locations around the world.
More details of the touring WPP exhibitions at worldpressphoto.org.