The inaugural EPA Images Awards took place this week at the photo agency’s HQ in Frankfurt. The award recognises both permanent and contract staff working for EPA Images.
The 2023 EPA Images award winners are:
• The Achiever of the Year: Mohammed Saber (Gaza visual journalist) ‘Saber has indeed gone above and beyond the duties of a photojournalist, risking his life in the most dangerous circumstances to produce outstanding and often deeply moving images that will always be the testimony of a very shameful period of recent history.’
• The Legacy Award: Marlies Iske (recently retired accounting manager) ‘Our accounting manager, who retired at the end of March this year, has been the perfect example of loyalty and dedication. She belongs to a generation that made Germany a leading country in Europe. She played a crucial role in making EPA a great company.’
• The Values@Work Award: Magdalena Skorwider (invoicing administrator) ‘Our invoicing administrator, represents the best values at EPA: dedicated, professional, responsible, reliable, transparent and, on the top of that, so humble and friendly. She has the positive attitude that EPA values highly.’
• The Image of the Year Award: Oleg Petrasiuk (Ukraine visual journalist) – see image above
• The Top Contributor Awards: Adam Vaughan (Liverpool, UK – 1st prize), Caroline Brehman (Los Angeles, USA – 2nd prize), and Ali Haider (United Arab Emirates – 3rd prize)
Both the Archiver of the Year and the Image of the Year’s awardees could not make the presentations ‘Our Palestinian visual journalist Saber Mohammed is not allowed to leave Gaza and our Ukrainian colleague was recruited a few months ago. Also, our Ali Haider could not get a visa on time for the celebration.’ The award for Image of the Year 2023 (top photo above) was taken by Oleg Petrasiuk in the east of Ukraine, in a village near Kharkiv, on July 15, 2023. It shows a car with a family abandoning their home with few possessions, heading to an uncertain future.
Together with the award & plaque, the winners get a bonus, and a trip to HQ to celebrate together and spend some time with their colleagues. EPA Images President & CEO Julia R. Arévalo told PAN: “We at EPA highly value the contribution of each and every employee to the success of the company. We believe in recognising and repaying their effort and their talents.”