‘Burning Man’ image wins top prize at World Press Photo

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‍The image of a young man who had caught fire in a clash during the protest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas has won the top prize at the annual World Press Photo contest.

A man tries to help a fellow demonstrator who had caught fire, after the gas tank of a police motorbike exploded, during clashes in a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, May 3, 2017. /VCG Photo

The photo, captured by photographer Ronald Schemidt with Agence France-Presse (AFP), won both the overall honors and the category for Spot News Single (3rd place) on Thursday in Amsterdam.

Magdalena Herrera, chair of this year’s jury, called the photo “classical” but also “has an instantaneous energy and dynamic.”

A demonstrator catches fire, after the gas tank of a police motorbike exploded, during clashes in a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, May 3, 2017. /VCG Photo

The man in the photo, Jose Victor Salazar Balza, was standing near a motorcycle with a gas tank when it exploded on May 3, 2017. He survived the incident.

Venezuelan photographer Ronaldo Schemidt holds his trophy in Amsterdam during the 2018 World Press Photo (WPP) award ceremony, April 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

Schemidt was only a few meters away when the explosion took place. “I felt the heat of the flames, I got my camera and turned around to start shooting whatever had just happened,” he said in an interview with British Journal of Photography in February.

“It all took just a few seconds, so I didn’t know what I was shooting. I was moved by instinct, it was very quick. I didn’t stop shooting until I realized what was going on. There was somebody on fire running toward me.”

The photo came out on top out of 73,044 pictures by 4,548 photographers from 125 countries and regions.

Picture nominated for the World Press Photo of the Year shows a passerby comforting an injured woman lying on the pavement after Khalid Masood drove his car into pedestrians killing four in addition to a police officer at Westminster Bridge in London, Britain, March 22, 2017. /VCG Photo

The other finalists for the photo of the year award included Ivor Prickett and Adam Ferguson, both freelance photographers for The New York Times, as well as Patrick Brown of Panos Pictures and Toby Melville of Reuters.

The top photo won a prize worth 10,000 euros (12,300 US dollars).