This is a gorgeous and moving photo. The composition, the color, the gesture, the hands — gorgeous, and immensely emotional. It was taken in Gaza, during the IDF’s Operation Pillar of Defense or Pillar of Clouds last November.
“Last Kiss” won First Place in the General News Category of the Photo of the Year International [POYi] contest.
Its caption reads: “A Palestinian man kisses the hand of a dead relative in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012”
The photo was taken by Spanish photographer Bernat Arnangue, of Associated Press, currently based in the Middle East covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Last Kiss” was announced as the First Place winning photo in the General News category today, and it’s published here.
H/T to journalist Ana Cardenes, currently based in Jerusalem, who Tweeted the announcement of the winning photo:
@AnaCardenes — Picture Of the Year. General News. First Place @BernatArmangue´s Last Kiss. #Gaza #POY pic.twitter.com/ohvE6CJJ
Winning photographs in all categories judged during the first session are posted on the POYi Web site at www.poyi.org.
The POYi website days that “Photographs are posted without credits until judging is complete. This is to protect the anonymity of entrants across all categories because many images are entered in multiple categories. Once judging has concluded and POY has verified all winning entries, final results will be announced”. Judging judging of all categories will be concluded on 27 February. The Photo of the Year International contest [POYi] is a program of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (www.rjionline.org) at the Missouri School of Journalism.