World Press Photo jury apologises for combining photo of Ukrainian girl with Russian soldier
The International Jury and World Press Photo have apologised for combining two works into one visual pair: Underground Field Hospital by Nanna Heitmann and Beyond the Trenches by Florian Bachmeier.
Source: a letter in response to an inquiry from Detector Media, a Ukrainian media organisation
Details: German photographer Florian Bachmeier captured six-year-old Anhelina from Kharkiv Oblast, who suffers from panic attacks after surviving a Russian bombardment. The work, titled Beyond the Trenches, has, in Bachmeier's view, become the emotional centre of the European bloc.
In contrast, German photographer Nanna Heitmann presented a photograph titled Underground Field Hospital, which depicts a wounded militant from the Russian-backed "Donetsk People's Republic" terror organisation who fought alongside Russian forces.
"There is an obvious difference between a child suffering from the aftermath of war and the torment of a soldier from the occupying forces who causes this suffering," World Press Photo noted.
"We should not have presented these two photographs as a pair, as doing so implies they should be viewed and understood only in relation to one another. This creates an overly simplistic and false equivalence, overshadowing the unique stories each of them tells. These images, in fact, highlight just two aspects of Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine," said Lucy Conticello, the head of the international jury.
Meanwhile, the jury has decided not to revoke the prize awarded to Mikhail Tereshchenko, a photographer for the Russian news agency TASS, a key part of the Russian propaganda machine. However, they have pledged to refine the rules and procedures for handling applications from photographers working for government agencies. They plan to consult with photographers from countries such as Georgia and Ukraine, as well as those from nations with repressive regimes, who often strive to produce "good work" under challenging conditions.
In the letter, the World Press Photo judges explained that each entry is judged anonymously, with jury members unaware of the photographers' identities or affiliations. In later rounds of judging, only limited information, such as the nationality and gender of the photographer, is provided.
Background:
The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers (UAPF) has condemned the results of the World Press Photo 2025 international competition.
They stressed that the association had been "surprised" by the choice of the winners and demanded that standards of ethics, impartiality and transparency be observed: "By rewarding Russian photographers who serve as expressors of the state ideology of the Russian Federation, the competition makes the position of the aggressor visible, and thus contributes to the substitution of concepts: instead of condemning the aggressor, it emphasises sympathy for him."
The announcement of the winners sparked immediate and heated discussions within the community. Ukrainian photo commentators – Serhii Korovainyi, Yuliia Kochetova and Vlada Liberova – also reacted to the list of winners.
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