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Poles among World Press Photo 2021 winners

16.04.2021 12:04
Three Polish photographers have won prizes in the 2021 World Press Photo contest.
Photo: Shutterbug75Pixabay
Photo: Shutterbug75/Pixabay Pixabay licence

Karolina Jonderko won second prize in the Long-Term Projects category, which covers works on a single theme that have been shot over at least three different years.

Entitled “Reborn”, her project explores the phenomenon of how artificial babies evoke genuine emotional response in adults. Carefully-crafted "reborn" babies are used by people who have experienced miscarriage, neonatal deaths, or have no means for adoption, as well as in paediatric training and in care homes to help reduce disruptive behaviour in people with dementia.

Natalia Kepesz won third prize in the Portraits-Stories category for her image “Niewybuch” (Unexploded bomb), which features three participants in an exercise simulating an air pollution emergency at a youth summer military camp in Poland.

In the Sports-Singles category, third prize went to Poland’s Tomasz Markowski for his photo “Tour of Poland Cycling Crash”, which depicts the dramatic scene of a crash involving Dutch cyclists Dylan Groenewegen and Fabio Jakobsen, who were competing for first place during the first stage of the 2020 Tour de Pologne in Katowice, southern Poland.

The former deviated from his line, leaving little room for his countryman, who crashed over the barrier at around 80 kilometres per hour. Jakobsen sustained severe injuries and spent a week in intensive care. Groenewegen broke his collarbone. He was disqualified from the race and received a nine-month suspension from the International Cycling Union. Jakobsen was awarded first place for stage one.

Mads Nissen of Denmark is the winner of the prestigious World Press Photo of the Year for “The First Embrace,” which shows an old woman embraced by a nurse in a care home in São Paulo, Brazil, in August 2020.

The list of prizewinners, in eight categories, includes 45 photographers from 28 countries. A total of 74,000 images by 4,300 artists were sent in to the World Press Photo committee. 

(mk/pk)