::: Star Weekend Magazine :::

Photo Feature

World Press Photo Awards 2007

British photographer Tim Hetherington has won the prestigious World Press Photo Award for 2007 with a picture of an exhausted US soldier inside a bunker in Afghanistan, organisers said Friday. "This image shows the exhaustion of a man -- and the exhaustion of a nation," jury chairman Gary Knight said. "We're all connected to this. It's a picture of a man at the end of a line." Hetherington, who was on assignment for US magazine Vanity Fair, took his photo on September 16, 2007. It shows an exhausted young soldier resting inside the Restrepo bunker, which was named for a member of his platoon who had been killed by insurgents. The 2nd Battalion Airborne of the 503rd US infantry was undergoing a deployment in the Korengal Valley, prize organisers said in a statement. It said the valley was infamous as the site of a downed US helicopter and had seen some of the most intense fighting in the country. "There's a human quality to this picture," said juror MaryAnne Golon. "It says that conflict is the basis of this man's life." Hetherington will receive the prize and an award of 10,000 euros (14,500 dollars) at a ceremony on April 27 in Amsterdam.

The jury awarded prizes in 10 categories to 59 photographers of 23 nationalities. News categories were once again dominated by instability and conflict zones worldwide, including Afghanistan, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, unrest in Kenya, and the conflict in the Middle East. First prize in one of the sport categories went to Danish photographer Erik Refner with a picture of a marathon runner whose face illustrates his struggle. The award for best portrait went to the photographer Platon for an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the cover of Time magazine. In the photo, Putin stares blankly into the camera as glowing light surrounds him. Brent Stirton of Getty Images won in the contemporary issues category for his striking photo of a group of people carrying the dead body of a gorilla in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. World Press Photo is an independent, non-profit organisation based in Amsterdam.

Text: AFP


This picture of an unidentified US soldier resting in a bunker in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, on September 16, 2007 by British photographer Tim Hetherington won on February 8, 2008 the World Press Photo of the Year 2007.	This picture of competitors crossing the Copenhagen Marathon finish line on May 18, 2007 by Danish photographer Erik Refner won on February 8, 2008 the World Press Photo 2007 First Prize Sports Features Stories.


This picture of Russian president Vladimir Putin by photographer Platon won on February 8, 2008 the World Press Portraits First Prize Singles 2007.	This picture by South African Brent Stirton, showing the evacuation of dead of Mountain Gorillas, Virunga National Park, in eastern Congo won on February 8, 2008 the World Press Photo 2007 Contemporary Issues singles first prize.	This picture by Balazs Gardi of Hungary from Network VII won the General News / First Prize singles on February 8, 2008 at the World Press. An Afghan man holds a wounded young boy in front of a house in Yaka China Village, Korengal Valley, East Afghanistan. The boy received multiple shrapnel wounds from a rocket as a U.S. airstrike targeted a suspected insurgent position in a nearby house in the village at the previous night. The air strike also killed five civilians and injured least seven villagers, including children.