News Photo Essay
of the Year
Lauren DeCicca
“By winning both the first and third places, Lauren demonstrated that she could showcase compelling narrative storytelling in very different circumstances - at a kindergarten shooting, and on Thailand’s legalisation of Marijuana. Wang He took out the 2nd place spot with a beautifully conceived series on life returning along the river in Wuhan, the source of the covid-19 outbreak.”
Thailand’s Daycare Massacre - Emergency workers inspect coffins containing the bodies of victims on October 06, 2022 at a hospital in Udon Thani, Thailand. Thai police said that former police officer Panya Kamrab, 34, had killed at least 37 people, including 24 children - some as young as 2 - in a mass shooting and stabbing at Child Development Center Uthaisawan - a child care center in Nong Bua Lamphu province in northeast Thailand. The assailant subsequently shot himself and his family, police said. The shooting comes two years after a disgruntled soldier killed 29 people in a shooting at a mall in 2020, and is the country's deadliest mass killing perpetrated by a lone gunman.
2nd Place
Wang He
Life of Water - Wuhan, the city with the reputation of the hundreds of lakes, has the largest water area in China. The per capita share of water resources is about 10 times the global per capita level, and it is the city with the largest number of national wetland parks. In 2022, affected by the global arid climate, the rivers and lakes has suffer from drought in Wuhan, but the people living here while adapt to the global climate change.
3rd Place
Lauren DeCicca
Thailand Legalized Marijuana - On June 9, 2022 Thailand officially decriminalized marijuana cultivation and possession, paving the way for farms and dispensaries to open and legally sell their product for medicinal and recreational use. In the months following the change in law the Thai government gave away 1 million cannabis plants to individuals, provided hundreds of licenses to farms, and allowed nearly 3,000 dispensaries to open nationwide.
