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Ronaldo Schemidt Wins World Press Photo of the Year Award
12 April 2018
At its annual Awards Show in Amsterdam, the World Press Photo Foundation announced Ronaldo Schemidt has won its Photo of the Year Award.
Venezuela Crisis. José Víctor Salazar Balza catches fire in Venezuelan protests.
The jury, chaired by Magdalena Herrera, awarded the prize to Ronaldo Schemidt's picture entitled Venezuela Crisis, which also won first prize in the Spot News Single category.
The image shows José Víctor Salazar Balza on fire during a violent clashe with riot police at a protest against President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela. Salazar was set alight when the gas tank of a motorbike exploded. He survived the incident with first- and second-degree burns.
Herrera said, "It's a classical photo, but it has an instantaneous energy and dynamic. The colors, the movement ... and it's very well composed, it has strength. I got an instantaneous emotion."
Other jury members noted the gun on the wall with the word "Paz"(peace) next to it and the mask that Balza is wearing, which turns him into a representative of the entire country.
Schemidt (b. 1971) is a staff photographer for Agence France-Presse, based in Mexico.