The Visa pour l’Image 2022 festival rewards work on the war in Ukraine

Ukraine in the spotlight in Perpignan. The Visa d’or News, the most prestigious prize of the Visa pour l’image international photojournalism festival, was awarded this Saturday, September 3 to Ukrainian journalist Evgeniy Maloletka for his reports in Mariupol, a city in southern Ukraine massively bombed. The 35-year-old photographer was among the first journalists to enter the city and then among the last to leave.

Killed children, pregnant women and mass graves

Very moved, Evgeniy Maloletka dedicated his prize “to the Ukrainian people“, underlining the importance of this recognition of his work. The Ukrainian photographer, 35, from the Associated Press (AP) agency, and his compatriot Mstyslav Chernov, 37, the first journalists to enter Mariupol on February 23an hour before the first bomb, and the last to leave on March 15.

“These 20 days in Mariupol have been like one endless long day, getting worse and worse“, told AFP Evgeniy Maloletka in front of his poignant photos children killed, pregnant women in the rubble, hastily dug mass graves, unable to organize a funeral because of the bombardments. Poignant photos that he shares in particular on his Instagram account. The shelling by the Russian army of this port city of 400,000 inhabitants, in particular of a maternity hospital, has aroused indignation in the international community.

Last year, the Visa d’or News for the first time rewarded a photographer who remained anonymous for security reasons, for his work on “The Spring Revolution” in Burma. In 2020, it was awarded to Fabio Bucciarelli for his work on the city of Bergamo, epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy.

Six more Visa d’or issued

• The Golden Visa of the daily press went to Danish newspaper Politiken for Mads Nissen’s war work
• Visa d’or Magazine awarded Brent Stirton (Getty Images/National Geographic) for “Bushmeat: at the origin of epidemics”
• The Visa d’Or of the city of Perpignan Rémi Ochlik rewards the photos of Lucas Barioulet for his coverage of the war in Ukraine for The world.
• The Humanitarian Golden Visa of the International Committee of the Red Cross rewarded Sameer Al-Doumy (AFP) for “The Roads of Death“, on the migration crisis in the north of France
• The Golden Visa for digital information France Info went to Max Bearak, Dylan Moriarty and Julia Ledur for “Africa Cities Rising“broadcast by the Washington Post.
• The Golden Visa of Honor from Figaro Magazine, honoring the career of a still active photographer, was awarded to Alain Keler (Myop) known in particular for his photos of Chechnya, El Salvador and Tiananmen.

Three scholarships were also awarded to Natalya Saprunova, Irene Baqué and Philémon Barbier. Five prizes were also awarded to journalists Hervé Lequeux, Laura Morton, Alain Schroeder, Fabiola Ferrero and Rebecca Conway.