The Visa d’or News, the most prestigious prize at the international photojournalism festival Visa pour l’image, was awarded on Saturday in Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales, south) to Palestinian AFP photographer Mahmud Hams, for his work on the war in Gaza.
The 44-year-old photographer, who has worked for AFP in the Palestinian territory since 2003, thanked the jury for this prize during a video exchange recorded with Jean-François Leroy, the founding director of Visa pour l’image, and broadcast during the presentation of the prize list.
“I hope the photos we take tell the world that this war and the suffering must end,” Mahmud Hams said in a statement from the agency.
Given the delays in obtaining a visa, he was unable to reach Perpignan in time to receive his prize in person, but he should come to France in the coming weeks, said Stéphane Arnaud, deputy editor-in-chief of AFP for photography, who received it on his behalf.
Other nominees for the Visa d’Or News were Ziv Koren for his work on the unprecedented attack launched by Hamas in Israel on October 7, which triggered the war, Corentin Fohlen for his reporting in Haiti at the heart of the “power of the gangs” and John Moore for his coverage of the merciless war waged against drug trafficking in Ecuador.
Mahmud Hams left Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in February 2024 with his family and has since worked for AFP in Qatar.
“Mahmud and his colleagues, AFP photographers and journalists, in the Gaza Strip, have done an extraordinary job in every way,” said Eric Baradat, AFP’s deputy director of information in charge of the photo. “Their testimony will be a milestone and will remain in history,” he added.
Visa pour l’image, the leading international event dedicated to photojournalism, offers free exhibitions, screenings, meetings with photographers and debates each year during a professional week that opened on Monday and ended this Saturday. The 26 exhibitions open to the public since August 31 remain open until September 15.
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