World press photo 2023, the winner is Evgeniy Maloletka with the photo of Mariupol

Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won World Press Photo of the year for his harrowing shot showing rescuers carrying a pregnant woman through the rubble of a hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol amidst the chaos following a Russian attack. The Ukrainian photographer’s picture, dated March 9, 2022, shows the injured woman, with her left hand on her bloodied left abdomen, a shot that highlighted the horror of the brutal Russian attack on the eastern port city at the start of the war. The woman, Iryna Kalinina, 32, died of her injuries half an hour after giving birth to the lifeless body of her baby, Miron. “For me it’s a moment that I always want to forget, but I can’t. This story will always stay with me,” Maloletka said in an interview before the announcement.

«Evgeniy Maloletka has captured one of the most significant images of the war between Russia and Ukraine under incredibly difficult circumstances. Without his unwavering courage, little would be known about one of Russia’s most brutal attacks. We are enormously proud of him,” said Julie Pace, AP’s Senior Vice President and Executive Editor. Associated Press director of photography J. David Ake added: “It’s not often that a single image is etched in the collective memory of the world. Evgeniy Maloletka lived up to the highest standards of photojournalism, capturing the decisive moment and carrying on the tradition of AP journalists around the world of shedding light on what otherwise might have remained invisible.

Maloletka and AP video journalist Mystyslav Chernov, also of Ukraine, arrived in Mariupol just as the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022 unleashed Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II. They stayed for more than two weeks, recounting the bombing of the city by the Russian army, which affected hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. An AP investigation found that around 600 people may have died when a Mariupol theater used as a fallout shelter was hit on March 16, 2022. Maloletka and Chernov were the only international journalists left in the city when they finally made a perilous escape. Maloletka said he and Chernov felt it was important to stay in Mariupol, despite the danger, “to collect people’s voices and emotions and show them around the world.” A series of photos by Maloletka from besieged Mariupol also won the World Press Photo Stories European regional award, announced in March. Maloletka’s images from Mariupol were also awarded the Knight International Journalism Award, the Visa d’or News Award and the Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandie.

In the three other global categories announced today, two-time World Press Photo winner Mads Nissen of Denmark won the Photo Story of the Year award for his series for Politiken and Panos Pictures titled The Price of Peace in Afghanistan, about everyday life in Afghanistan in 2022. Armenian Anush Babajanyan won the Long-Term Project award with Battered Waters for VII Photo and National Geographic Society, while Egyptian photographer Mohamed Mahdy won the Open Format award with Here, The Doors Don’t Know Me The four global winners were selected from over 60,000 entries submitted by 3,752 entrants from 127 countries. Previously announced regional winners include Maya Levin for her image for AP showing Israeli police beating mourners carrying the coffin of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed while covering an Israeli military raid for work in the West Bank.

Following international pressure, the Israel Defense Forces admitted that it was probably one of their soldiers who shot the reporter. The Israeli military denied that the shooting was intentional and declared the case closed. Additionally, Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press Spanish photographer Emilio Morenatti, who lost his leg reporting in Afghanistan, received an honorable mention for a series of images of people in Ukraine who suffered amputations due to the Russian invasion.