Kristinn Magnússon awarded the press photo of the year
"The winning photograph captures the human side, how the community became close together, and how people showed support for each other during a difficult time,” says in the jury's review of the press photograph of the year. mbl.is/Kristinn Magnússon
Yesterday, Kristinn Magnússon, photographer for the newspaper Morgunblaðið and mbl.is, received the prize for news photo of the year 2023. The photo was taken at Hallgrímskirkja church where the residents of Grindavík came together in November.
At 15 am yesterday, at the Reykjavík Museum of Photography photographers were awarded awarded the prize for the for the news photo of the year and the photo of the year. The Icelandic Journalists’ Association announced this yesterday.
“This year’s news picture shows the other side of one of the biggest news stories of the year, the Reykjanes earthquake. The picture is from a time when the Grindvíkingar were together at Hallgrímskirkja. We saw many great pictures of the actual fires and the destruction caused by the earthquake, but the winning photograph captures the human side, how the community became close together, and how people showed support for each other during a difficult time,” the jury’s review of the picture says.
Kjartan Þorbjörnsson, known as "Golli", was awarded the photograph of the year. Photo/Sent to mbl.is
Golli took the picture of the year
Kjartan Þorbjörnsson, or Golli, a photographer at Heimur and a former photographer for mbl.is, was awarded the prize for the photo of the year in 2023.
“The photo of the year 2023 is at first sight simple and quiet. It is highly symbolic and full of emotion. The film depicts Yazan, a young refugee from Gaza, temporarily decorating his home in Iceland with Christmas lights and the flag of his home country. The film evokes feelings such as sadness and empathy and is a good way to express his pride in his origin and home, a home that is now lost,” the jury’s review reads.
At the Museum of Photography, an independent jury selected 102 photographs from 17 press photographs from several submitted photographs. The six categories of photographs were news, daily life, sports, portraits, environment, and series. This year the jury awarded a prize for news photograph of the year and one picture from the former categories was chosen as the picture of the year.
The jury was composed of Árni Torfason, Hrund Þórsdóttir, Snorri Gunnarsson, and Andrea Bruce, who chaired the jury. Andrea is a war photographer from the United States who has worked in Iraq and Palestine for magazines like The New York Times and National Geographic.
