AP photographers bag two major Pulitzers this year; captured pandemic pain and US civil unrest in pictures
The Associated Press’ chief photographer in Spain, Emilio Morenatti, won the feature photography prize. Work by 10 AP photographers won the breaking news prize.
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Associated Press photographers awarded the Pulitzer Prize on Friday had dodged tear gas to capture protests against racial injustice and patiently built trust with elderly people to empathetically document the toll of the coronavirus pandemic. | In the picture: A woman pushes a cart with her belongings as she walks along an empty street in downtown Barcelona, Spain, on 21 March, 2020. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. Photo via The Associated Press/Emilio Morenatti
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AP’s chief photographer in Spain, Emilio Morenatti, won the feature photography prize. Work by 10 AP photographers won the breaking news prize. | In the picture: Agustina Cañamero, 81, hugs and kisses her husband Pascual Pérez, 84, through a plastic film screen to avoid contracting the coronavirus at a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain, on 22 June, 2020. Even when it comes wrapped in plastic, a hug can convey tenderness and relief, love and devotion. The fear that gripped Agustina Cañamero during the 102 days she and her 84-year-old husband spent physically separated during Spain’s coronavirus outbreak dissolved the moment the couple embraced through a screen of plastic film. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. Photo via The Associated Press/Emilio Morenatti
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“The outstanding work of the AP photography staff in covering racial justice protests and Emilio Morenatti’s compassionate, yearlong look at the impact of COVID-19 on the elderly in Spain are two shining examples of what photojournalists strive to do everywhere: use light and shadow to bring knowledge and understanding to all corners of the globe,” said J. David Ake, AP assistant managing editor and director of photography. | In the picture: A patient infected with Coronavirus rests in a chair inside an isolated room at the COVID-19 ward of a public hospital in Barcelona, Spain, on 18 November, 2020. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. Photo via The Associated Press/Emilio Morenatti
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Traveling by scooter around Barcelona, Morenatti captured images of an older couple hugging and kissing through a plastic sheet, mortuary workers in hazmat gear removing bodies and of people enduring the crisis in isolation. | In the picture: Nurse Marta Fernandez holds up a tablet computer over the chest of 94-year-old Maria Teresa Argullos Bove so that she can speak to her sister, children and grandchildren from her hospital bed at the COVID-19 ward at the hospital del Mar in Barcelona, Spain, on 18 November, 2020. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. Photo via The Associated Press/Emilio Morenatti
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Morenatti separated himself from his family for months to avoid the risk of exposure as he documented the toll of COVID-19 on the elderly. He credited half the award to his wife, who took care of their children, and the other half to his colleagues. | In the picture: Álvaro Puig Moreno watches television while eating a his Christmas Eve dinner at his home in Barcelona, Spain, on 24 December, 2020. “The solitude gets to me these days, I often feel depressed,” Puig said. “These holidays, instead of making me happy, make me sad. I hate them. Most of family has died, I am one of the last ones left. I will spend Christmas at home alone because I don’t have anyone to spend them with.” The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. Photo via The Associated Press/Emilio Morenatti
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“I never thought that I could win the Pulitzer, actually, but much less than I could win at using my electric scooter around a few dozen kilometers from my house in Barcelona,” he said. | In the picture: Francisco España, 60, looks at the Mediterranean sea from a promenade next to the “Hospital del Mar” in Barcelona, Spain, on 4 September, 2020. Francisco spent 52 days in the ICU of the hospital due to an infection of Coronavirus and he has been allowed by his doctors on this day to spend almost ten minutes at the seaside as part of a therapy to recover from the ICU. The image was part of a series by Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. Photo via The Associated Press/Emilio Morenatti
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The AP photographers who won in the breaking news category captured the drama and raw emotion of protests that roiled U.S. cities after the May 2020 death of George Floyd, a Black man murdered by a Minneapolis police officer. | In the picture: A protester carries a US flag upside down, a sign of distress, next to a burning building, 28 May, 2020, in Minneapolis. Protests over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody, broke out in Minneapolis for a third straight night. The image was part of a series of photographs by The Associated Press that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. Photo via The Associated Press/Julio Cortez
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AP photographers captured close-up images of demonstrators with fists in the air and sometimes violent conflicts with police. One widely published photograph by Julio Cortez on the night of 28 May in riot-torn Minneapolis shows a lone, silhouetted protester running with an upside-down American flag past a burning liquor store. | In the picture: A protester raises her fist in the air next to a burning police vehicle in Los Angeles, 30 May, 2020, during a demonstration over the death of George Floyd. The image was part of a series of photographs by The Associated Press that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. Photo via The Associated Press/Ringo H.W. Chiu
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The ten photographers who won the breaking news prize are freelancer Noah Berger, Alex Brandon, freelancer Ringo H.W. Chiu, Cortez, Frank Franklin II, David Goldman, John Minchillo, Marcio Sanchez, Mike Stewart and Evan Vucci. | In the picture: Protesters gather in front of a burning fast food restaurant, 29 May, 2020, in Minneapolis. Protests over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody, broke out in Minneapolis for a third straight night. The image was part of a series of photographs by The Associated Press that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. Photo via The Associated Press/John Minchillo
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“It means the world to me to share this with my colleagues,” Minchillo said on Twitter. “I hoped for one Pulitzer in a lifetime of hustling and this is how I wanted it. With my people, on the big story.” | In the picture: Demonstrators vandalise a car as they protest the death of George Floyd, 31 May, 2020, near the White House in Washington, DC Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers. The image was part of a series of photographs by The Associated Press that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. Photo via The Associated Press/Evan Vucci
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The AP also had two Pulitzer finalists in the investigative reporting category and an additional finalist for breaking news photography. This is the second year in a row AP has won the Pulitzer for feature photography. AP last won both photography prizes in 1999. | In the picture: A demonstrator hides under a barrier as federal officers release tear gas during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O Hatfield United States Courthouse, 29 July, 2020, in Portland, Ore. The image was part of a series of photographs by The Associated Press that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. Photo via The Associated Press/Marcio Jose Sanchez
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The news cooperative, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, has won 56 Pulitzer Prizes, including 34 for photography. | In the picture: Police surround demonstrators in Times Square during a protest march, 4 June, 2020, in New York. The image was part of a series of photographs by The Associated Press that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. Photo via The Associated Press/John Minchillo
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