Left: Mohammed Salem/Reuters | Right: AP Photo/Ivan Valencia
The Pulitzer Prize Board has honored the photography staffs of Reuters and the Associated Press for their outstanding work. The Reuters staff was recognized with the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News, while the Associated Press was awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.
Since 1917, the Pulitzer Prize has been handed out to honor exceptional achievements in American “journalism, arts, and letters.” The photography staff at Reuters was recognized for “raw and urgent photographs documenting the October 7th deadly attack in Israel by Hamas and the first weeks of Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza.”
The AP, which has won a total of 59 Pulitzer Prizes, was singled out for “poignant photographs chronicling unprecedented masses of migrants and their arduous journey north from Colombia to the border of the United States.” The 15 photographs were shot by AP staffers Greg Bull, Eric Gay, Fernando Llano, Marco Ugarte, and Eduardo Verdugo, and longtime AP freelancers Christian Chavez, Felix Marquez, and Ivan Valencia.
“These raw and emotional images came about through day-to-day coverage of a historic moment in multiple countries documenting migrants at every step of their treacherous journeys,” shares Julie Pace, the AP’s senior vice president and executive editor.
The winning photos from Reuters include Mohammed Salem’s photo of a Palestinian woman cradling her niece’s body after she was killed in Israeli strikes on Khan Younis. The heartbreaking photo was already named 2024 World Press Photo of the Year. In addition to Salem, the Pulitzer photography team includes staff photographers Ahmed Zakot, Amir Cohen, Ammar Awad, Evelyn Hockstein, Anas al-Shareef, Ibraheem Abu Mustafa and Ronen Zvulun, and freelance journalist Yasser Qudih.
The win was particularly poignant for Reuters, whose staff face grave danger while out on assignment. In October, Issam Abdullah, a Reuters visuals journalist, was killed by an Israeli tank while filming shelling at the Lebanon-Israel border.
The photography prize was one of two Pulitzers that Reuters took home. It also won the National Reporting Prize for its investigation into serious issues at various companies owned by Elon Musk. Reuters uncovered worker injuries, animal mistreatment, and a coverup of serious defects in Teslas, which sparked investigations in the United States and Europe.
Reuters President Paul Bascobert says, “Our winning work exemplifies why journalism is so vital to informing the public and holding power to account.”
The Reuters and Associated Press photography staff were singled out for exceptional work and won 2024 Pulitzer Prizes.
Haitian migrants wade through water as they cross the Darién Gap from Colombia to Panama in hopes of reaching the U.S., Tuesday, May 9, 2023. (Photo: AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
In a final embrace Inas Abu Maamar, 36, cradles the shroud-wrapped body of her five-year-old niece, Saly, who died in Israeli strikes on Khan Younis, at the Nasser Hospital morgue before her funeral in southern Gaza, October 17, 2023. (Photo: Mohammed Salem/Reuters)
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All images via the Pulitzer Prize.
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