So, I'm going to tell you what will be the world press photo of the year is not really
on the minds of the jury as they're sitting in this room going through the process. Most
of the time, you know, up until really Wednesday, later on Wednesday when you start choosing
single images, you're really trying to manage the categories that you're judging and you're
really concentrated early on on the stories and then you start looking at the singles
determining, you know, which three singles will go through and at that point you start
to focus a little bit on what photographs you want to put on the table to discuss because
you can extract from any story that wins an award a single image as long as it was taken
in 2013 and put it onto the table for discussion but you can only select images that win in
their singles category to be part of that conversation. So, when we were judging the
singles we started to think about that and certain images started to, you know, to rise
above the others. And on Thursday morning when we all came in here, we had selected
13 images. Is that right, David? Yeah, 13 images and they were all printed out and put
on a table, in fact, right in front of this screen here. And they were really, really
incredible images, very, very powerful images and we spent a little time looking at them
but I think it was Francesco who asked that we turn off all the lights, sit in the dark
and look at them all on the screen. So, that's what we did. And I think we probably sat in
that position for about an hour and we sat quietly at the back of the room and looked
at these images one by one. And then David read out the category if you like. Actually,
Mikhail, maybe you can do that. Or David if you remember it and remind everybody what
the world-first press photograph should represent.
So, we sat in the room and we're looking at 13 images and I was sitting, you know, I sit
usually on the side somewhere and I'm looking at everybody else. I kind of like to gauge
the temperature in the room. When is it time to finish the discussion and move on and make
a vote? And there's time pressing. You know, how's the mood? Does anyone need a glass of
water? Such things. And I noticed as we were going through the pictures very, very slowly
that there were... Can I mention how many we left within the end?
Well, the 13 you just mentioned was okay, I think. Let's leave it like that.
Really?
Yeah.
Okay. So, there was a number significantly smaller than 13 that captured the imagination
of the jury. And usually when I've been in this room with other juries, and this is really
indicative of how this jury works, it's a real struggle to let go of things. You know, you
go from 13 to 12 and then, you know, another round of conversations, you go to 11. And
then hours later, you know, maybe you get down to the number of images that we actually
have to vote on, which is two. Thank you. So, I'm just trying to read Miguel here. So,
I thought, well, after I watched everybody and heard what everybody had to say, I thought,
well, you know, we really need to move this process forward. And so I started asking the
jury, you know, which images they might like to leave on the table. And anyway, we ended
up with the two images that we needed to vote on. Well, I'm going to tell them instantaneously,
actually, you know, it was very, very, it was a very, very quick decision. This jury
had deliberated for days on all of these images. We had given incredible thought and care to
all of these photographs. And as I said earlier, I have not been on any jury which has treated
itself with so much dignity and respect and the work that they were looking at with so
much dignity and respect. And this jury was very certain about what it wanted to vote
on, what it wanted to look at. And I think I asked all the jurors to write on a piece
of paper before they went into the room, the photograph that they thought might win, and
put it in their pockets so that we could look afterwards and see. And I have to say, in
fact, if David doesn't mind me mentioning, David Gutenfelder, if you ever want to know
what's going to win a competition, this guy sort of nails it with incredible consistency.
But I think, you know, many of us, it was clear, had been persuaded by the dialogue
in the room. And we ended up reflecting on what the world press photo of the year had
always been, was I think something that was certainly in my mind and maybe in the others
and what it could be. And I think we didn't seek to make any statements to anybody in
the world about how the world should think, what issues were more important than any others.
We didn't want to make any grand statements about photography. We always sought to choose
photographs, stories that advanced photography, challenged the way that things had been seen
and looked at before. And we settled on the image that I'm about to show you when I shut
up. But for us, we ended up choosing a photograph that is of human beings trying to communicate
with other human beings in the context of a story about migration. And it's a story that
begins in despair, perhaps, but ends up in hope. And I think we all feel that this is
a very hopeful photograph. And it's a photograph that people who see it will have a great engagement
with. Does that give justice, Francesca? So I'm not going to dither around any longer.
I'm going to show you the world press photo of the year 2014. 13. Who's it by, Miquel?
The photograph is taken by John Stenmayer. He's from America. He's represented by Seven
and made a story for National Geographic. The photograph is from Djibouti. And it's
a photograph of migrants who have made it to the coast and they're standing on the border
with Somalia trying to find a phone signal so they can communicate with their friends.
I think they've walked through Djibouti and they've made it to the coast.
Are there any questions for Gary or anyone else that you would expect a winner from a
group? Did you make a very conscious decision in the sense that you want to avoid Syria
or would it just apply? No, absolutely not.
