Paul Hansen wins World Press Photo award

The photograph by Swedish photographer Paul Hansen shows a group of men marching the dead bodies through a narrow street in Gaza City.

The victims, a brother and sister, are wrapped in white cloth with only their faces showing.

It portrays 2-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and her 3-year-old brother Muhammad, who were killed when their house was destroyed by the Israeli attack. They are being carried by grieving uncles, as their father Fouad was also killed, and his body can be seen in the background of the picture.

The children's mother, whose name was not provided, was in intensive care.

"The strength of the pictures lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow of the adults with the innocence of the children," said jury member Mayu Mohanna of Peru.

"It's a picture I will not forget."

World Press Photo, one of photojournalism's most prestigious contests, issued awards in nine categories to 54 photographers of 32 nationalities.

Hansen's Nov. 20 shot won top prize in both the spot news single photograph category and the overall competition.

"This prize is the highest honor you can get in the profession," Hansen told The Associated Press. "I'm very happy, but also very sad. The family lost two children and the mother is unconscious in a hospital."

"These situations are so visually complex," he added.

"It's difficult to convey the emotions, to translate what is happening. The light is harsh and there are a lot of people.

"But in the alley the light bounced off the walls, so I thought this is a place where you can see that it's a procession. ... You get the depth in the image, and the bouncing light."

Violence in the Middle East, and its effect upon civilians, was the dominant theme in the hard news categories.

The contest drew entries from professional press photographers, photojournalists and documentary photographers across the world.

In all, 103,481 images were submitted by 5,666 photographers from 124 countries.

The photos were submitted anonymously to a panel of 19 jury members, chaired by AP Director of Photography Santiago Lyon, and judged in multiple rounds.

The winners were all "stellar examples of first-rate photojournalism," Lyon said.

Other judges came from Germany, Iraq, Peru, France, Sweden, China, Britain, Spain, Azerbaijan, South Africa, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.S.

Hansen will receive a €10,000 (RM41398.20) prize at ceremonies and the opening of the year's exhibition April 25-27 in Amsterdam.