[ SPOT NEWS ] This is a category for single photographs of breaking news or events in which no planning was possible. Each participant is allowed to enter up to 5 images. The images must be taken in 2023.
On top of the awards in the Spot News category, the five judges also wish to recognise the courageous coverage by journalists reporting under extraordinary hardship and risk in the ongoing Israel-Gaza war. In what has become one of the deadliestperiodsfor the media, a February 2024 Committee to Protect Journalists report states, “More than three quarters of the 99 journalists and media workers killed worldwide in 2023 died in the Israel-Gaza war, the majority of them Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza. Theconflict claimed the lives of more journalists in three months than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.”
Injured Palestinians wait to receive medical attention at al-Shifa hospital, following a shelling on the Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, hundreds of people were killed and injured in an airstrike on Ahli Arab hospital that houses thousands of refugees.
Injured Palestinians wait to receive medical attention at al-Shifa hospital, following a shelling on the Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, hundreds of people were killed and injured in an airstrike on Ahli Arab hospital that houses thousands of refugees.
People wait in hope for their loved ones trapped under rubble of collapsed buildings to be rescued. They saved all daily stuff they could from their houses, such as blankets, clothes, toys and mostly, souvenirs. Hatay, city in southern Turkey, was hit on February 6, 2023. The quakes took over 50,500 lives and left 105,000 injured. Around 14 million people have been affected by the quakes as well as many others in northern Syria. Search and rescue operations lasted for weeks. Over 11,300 personnel from 90 countries came to Turkey for help, including Austria, France, Mexico, and South Korea.
Relatives mourn near the body of Sanjay Sharma, a Kashmiri Pandit, during his funeral procession at Achan village in south Kashmirs Pulwama district, Feburary 26, 2023. According to police, suspected militants opened fire on Kashmiri Pandit Sanjay Sharma while he was on his way to a local market in Pulwama, and died later of his injuries.
At 04:17 a.m. on February 6, 2023, Türkiye was hit by two major earthquakes of 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude respectively. According to official figures, 50,783 people died and more than 122,000 were injured. The earthquakes were also felt in neighboring countries and nearly 14 million people were affected in total. More than 2 million people either lost their homes or suffered significant damage, while 5 million people were forced to migrate to other regions. This wave of earthquakes, the most devastating ones in Türkiye’s history, are described as “the disaster of the century” for the country which was getting prepared to celebrate its centennial in 2023. Although almost a year passed since the earthquakes, bodies are still being pulled out of the rubble. Southeastern Kahramanmaras province, the epicenter of the deadly earthquakes, experienced the destruction in the most striking way. As the sun rose in the morning of that dark night, the destruction was seen more clearly. Cries for help echoed across the city, as smoke kept coming out of the debris for days.
Lebanese army soldiers beat up Lebanese and Palestinian protestors who attacked the premises of the US embassy in Awkar north of Beirut during clashes following a pro-Palestine demonstration.
Palestinian rescuers transport a survivor after finding among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike on Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.
Women cry out in front of the their collapsed building in the aftermath of a major earthquake in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras, Turkey, 08 February 2023. A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit near Kahramanmaras city, Turkey, in the early hours of Monday, February 6 2023, followed by another 7.5-magnitude tremor just after midday. The quakes caused widespread destruction in southern Turkey and northern Syria and were felt in nearby countries. More than 50 thousand people died and more than 100 thousand people were injured in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on February 6, 2023. According to Turkish Statistical Institute data, 14 million people were affected and 216 thousand 347 victims were evacuated from the region to other provinces. According to the UN, the cost of the earthquakes that caused destruction in 11 cities in southeastern Turkey is more than 100 billion.
On February 13, 2023, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 and 7.6 occurred in many provinces of Turkey, including Hatay. An aerial view shows Derya Akdoğan (26), who was rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building after 177 hours. On Monday, February 6, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook Kahramanmaraş, centered in Pazarcık district. It shook many provinces, including Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Adana, Adıyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Hatay and Kilis. On the same day, at 13.24, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake occurred in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş.
Sakshi Malik, first Indian female wrestler to win bronze medal in olympics, gets detained by the police officials during her protest, demanding the arrest of the former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accused of sexually harassing female players, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on May 28, 2023.
