The photographer Emilio Morenatti, from Jerez, photographer for the American press agency Associated Press (AP), received this Friday the Pulitzer Prize for the best photographic report. This most important prize in journalism, awarded for more than a century by Columbia University (New York), was awarded to him for his photos taken of the elderly in Spain during the coronavirus pandemic, images that reflect the suffering of the Spanish elderly during the pandemic.
Emilio Morenatti is the fourth Spaniard to receive the Pulitzer Prize after Javier Bauluz (1995), Manu Brabo (2013) and Susana Vera (2020).
A multi-award winning photographer
It is not the first time that an important institution recognizes the work of this 52-year-old photographer born in Zaragoza and who grew up in Jerez, since in 2009 he received the FotoPres prize for having dealt with the violence of gender in Pakistan.
In December 2011, Morenatti won the first edition of the Lucas Dolega photographic competition in France, dedicated to reporting on conflicts, for a series of photos entitled “Displaced in Tunisia”
More recently, in 2013, he received the third World Press Photo award in the category “Contemporary Issues” for a photograph of the 29M general strike in Barcelona.
A life of passion and adventure
Emilio Morenatti began his career in Jerez de la Frontera and in 2005 joined the Spanish agency EFE and moved to Seville. In 2006, he was kidnapped in Gaza by four armed men before being released a day later, unharmed. He was less lucky in August 2009 in Afghanistan where, seriously injured, he lost his left foot in the explosion of his vehicle.
After 3 decades as a photographer, he is now based in Barcelona as editor and photo editor of The Associated Press for Spain and Portugal.
The images that convinced the jury
Morenatti was awarded for a series of “moving” shots that “take the audience into the lives of elderly people in Spain” who were coping with the epidemic, according to the jury.
I am very happy to receive this Pulitzer Prize. I share with you a series of photos, among the most beautiful. pic.twitter.com/wxrIdrCHP4
— Emilio Morenatti (@EmilioMorenatti) June 11, 2021
This award is also recognition of his long career as a photographer, which began in 1988 with “El periódico del Guadalete”, in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), the city where he grew up.
A prize, this year, very much in tune with current events
The Spaniard was thus ahead of New York Times photographer Tyler Hicks and the Getty Images team, who were named finalists in this category.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune won the Pulitzer Prize for Best News Reporting for its coverage of the death of George Floyd and Darnella Frazier, the 18-year-old who filmed the arrest, won an award special.
We would like to give thanks to the writer of this article for this incredible content
Spanish photographer Emilio Morenatti, 2021 Pulitzer Prize