RUFA lecturer Antonio Faccilongo is the winner of the Story of the Year in the 2021 edition of the World Press Photo, the world’s most important photojournalism prize.
The international jury examined the work of more than 4,000 photographers from 130 countries, with a total of around 74,000 images. A total of 45 photographers, including three Italians, made it to the finals. The themes covered, as often happens, were deeply influenced by the historical period experienced: from the protests over the killing of George Floyd to the Nagorno-Karabakh war, from the fires in the Pantanal to the locust invasion in Kenya, not forgetting the removal of statues of controversial figures.
The jury was chaired by the director and founder of the photo.circle platform, NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati, who judged the photos along with: Ahmed Najm of Metrography Agency, the first photo agency in Iraq; visual director of Russian online newspaper Takie Dela Andrei Polikanov; National Geographic deputy director of photography Kathy Moran; Kevin WY Lee, photographer and creative director; Mulugeta Ayene, photographer; Pilar Olivares, Reuters agency.
Faccilongo presented the project “Habibi” with which he told the story of Palestinian prisoners forced to serve long sentences in Israeli jails, but who have found a way to send their sperm to their wives to try to have children. In addition to the “Story of the year 2021” award, it won first place in the “Long-term projects” category of World Press Photo 2021.
Antonio was born in Rome in 1979, studied Communication Sciences, attended photography courses and obtained a master’s degree in photojournalism. He is represented by Getty Images Reportage and has worked for years in Palestine, documenting the consequences of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
