A simple image of former Pakistan president Benazir Bhutto adjusting her headscarf has won photograph of the year in The Press Photographer’s Year awards.
Daniel Berehulak, from Getty Images, took the photo outside the premier’s house in Karachi, two days after she returned from self-imposed exile to Pakistan. The same image also won him a prize at the World Press Photo Awards.
The 32-year-old admitted he was surprised at its success. ‘When I took the picture I didn’t realise its significance and the knock-on effect it would have. I certainly think it’s the symbolism evoked through the image that has made it a winner.”
Berehulak also won the new folio of the year category with images that included Tewkesbury town surrounded by water after flash flooding and victims of a suicide bombing in Karachi waiting for hospital treatment.
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Getty Images took three of the 13 prizes, Peter Macdiarmid scooping the news category. Andrew Parsons from the Press Association won the live news prize, while the Daily Mail’s Andrew Hooper bagged two of the sports categories.
Now in its third year, The Press Photographer’s Year, sponsored by Canon, aims to demonstrate in an age of rolling news, internet and satellite communication, that the traditional still image can still have a lasting impression on the public conscience. More than 7,500 photographs were entered into the competition from photographers based all over the world.
The panel of judges included Robert Capa, Gold Medal winner Clive Limpkin, the Daily Mail’s Colin Davey and three times sports photographer of the year Bob Martin
The category winners, together with other entries which form a comprehensive review of the year, will feature in the book Assignments 3 – The Press Photographer’s Year.
Its publication next month will coincide with the opening of the exhibition at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Foyer in London.
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