Prague, Nov 21 (CTK) – A picture of a skirmish between human rights advocates and Asian supporters of Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit in Prague in March 2016 by Michal Sula, from the Mafra publishers, won the Photo of the Year award of the Czech Press Photo competition yesterday.
Sula’s photo is dominated by a figure covered in a Czech flag and a falling banner promoting human rights.
“The photograph symbolises a clash between the values of the democratic world and Chinese reality and it illustrates the current state of Czech political culture,” the international jury said about the winning picture, which also won the Spot News category.
Filip Singer, from the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA), won the major prize for a photographic series showing refugees in the Greek island of Lesbos.
In the category People in the News, the first prize went to Petr Topic, from Mafra, for his photo featuring Czech politician Miloslav Ransdorf on his way to the Communist Party (KSCM) seat where he was summoned to explain his arrest in Switzerland.
Some experts criticised this photograph in which Ransdorf, who died two months later, seems to be in a bad health condition.
Free-lance photographer Jiri Sebek won the Grant of Prague with his series of “modern temples” showing administrative and trade buildings.
Free-lance cameraman Tomas Rafa won the video news category with a report on refugees waiting at a fence at the Slovenian-Croat border.
This year, 349 authors entered the competition with 5861 pictures.
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