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Chris Donovan, a 2017 Loyalist College Photojournalism graduate, has won first prize in sports, stories category with the prestigious World Press Photo Foundation’s 2021 World Press Photo Contest.
Donovan earned the global recognition for his photo essay ‘Those Who Stay Will Be Champions,’ illustrating the Flint Jaguars basketball team.
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He was also named a finalist for Story of the Year.
“Chris is skilled at capturing raw, poignant moments that bring social justice issues to the surface while visually illustrating the power of sport,” said Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan, Loyalist College president and CEO in a press release Wednesday.
The Globe and Mail Published April 15, 2021 Updated April 15, 2021
World Press Photo’s annual contest recognizes and celebrates the best visual journalism produced over the past year. The winners consist of 45 photographers from 28 countries, documenting unprecedented world events, from the COVID-19 pandemic to social justice protests. Canadian photojournalist Chris Donovan wins in the category Sports story of the year for his photo essay on the Flint Jaguars basketball team in Michigan. The Photo Story of the Year was awarded to Italian documentary photographer Antonio Faccilongo, working for Getty Reportage, for a series titled “Habibi” about Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons who smuggle their semen out of detention facilities in the hopes of raising a family. World Press Photo of the Year was awarded to Danish photographer Mads Nissenan for his image symbolizing “love and compassion” of an 85-year-old Brazilian woman getting her first embrace in five months
World Press Photo 2021: Outstanding Images Nominees For Photo Of The Year
As 2020 joined the pantheon of years pivotal in history, the nominees for the 64th annual World Press Photo Contest are a reflection of those remarkably difficult 12 months.
In rewarding professional photo journalists for the best images of visual journalism, whether entered as singles or stories, judges asses their accurate, fair, and visually compelling insights about our world.
“In an unprecedented year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice protests around the globe, the nominees share a diversity of interpretations and perspectives to these and other urgent issues such as the climate crisis, transgender people’s rights, and territorial conflicts,” explained the organization.
In photos: Nominees for World Press Photography Awards 2021 theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
World Press Photo Story of the Year nominees
The World Press Photo Story of the Year award honors the photographer whose visual creativity and skills produced a story with excellent editing and sequencing that captures or represents an event or issue of great journalistic importance that year. The three nominees for World Press Photo Story of the Year are:
Those Who Stay Will Be Champions
Chris Donovan, Canada
The Flint Jaguars basketball team in Flint, Michigan, United States, embodies efforts to nurture stability, encourage mutual support and strengthen community spirit in a city struggling to survive. Basketball is an integral part of Flint culture, and the city once produced dozens of big names at collegiate and professional levels. For decades, four high school teams battled as fierce rivals. Now there is only one high school in town. In 2020, the team fought to turn around what had up until then been a nearly winless history. By March, they were prepared to head to the divi