Sydney Morning Herald photographer Kate Geraghty has been named the winner of the 2024 Photo of the Year Prize at the annual Walkley Awards, for her image Funeral at Al-Aqsa.
Funeral at Al-Aqsa: Palestinian mourners carrying a coffin are stopped momentarily by an Israeli police officer before entering the Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem. 27 October, 2023.
The judges said Geraghty’s photo of Palestinian mourners being stopped by an Israeli official at the Al Aqsa mosque felt so emblematic of a frozen moment in the stand-off between two states, it had to be their Photo Of The Year.
‘No single image can capture the nuance of an entire story, but it can encapsulate in a moment a more complex story or issue. Kate Geraghty anticipated the moment, bearing witness with technical skill, exemplary composition and empathy. Even though this was a temporary impasse, and the funeral procession moved on, this moment indicates the stalemate of the past year’s conflict.’
The Nikon-Walkley Awards are an annual celebration of Australia's best photojournalism, and the country's highest honour for Journalism.
Kate Geraghty joined The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper in 2002. She has covered assignments including wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, South Sudan, Ukraine and most recently the Israel-Hamas War. She is the proud recipient of several Walkley awards, including the 2017 Gold Walkley Award with Michael Bachelard.
The winner of the Nikon Portrait Prize went to Christopher Hopkins, of The Age/SMH, and Good Weekend Magazine, for his image Scars of Regret.
Scars of Regret: Mel Jefferies sits for a portrait in her sharehouse bedroom in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. 30 October, 2023. Image: Christopher Hopkins.
The judges described the image as not being about the photographer, but the subject.
"In this image we can see that Christopher Hopkins has created conditions where his subject feels comfortable and in control enough to pull down her mask. It’s a single capture but it looks like he spent a lot of time with his subject developing the frame: there’s intimacy, vulnerability, and trust shining through," they said.
Hopkins is a freelance photojournalist based in Melbourne, Australia, and a previous two-time Walkley winner.
You can see a selection of the other finalists in the competition below.
Walkley Press Photographer of the Year, Finalist: Nick Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald. The Wet West: despite being in an El-Nino year, after a dry spring NSW had a very wet summer including this violent storm near Nyngan in the state’s west.Walkley Press Photographer of the Year, Finalist: Christopher Hopkins, Freelance. The Push Back: Trans rights activists were forced back by mounted police outside Parliament House as they tried to disrupt the ‘Women WILL Speak’ rally in Melbourne.Walkley Press Photographer of the Year, Finalist, Matthew Abbott, Freelance / Oculi. An Australian ex-serviceman, dressed in full military attire and carrying a veterans’ flag, attends the ‘NO’ Rally in Hyde Park. In the weeks leading up to the Voice referendum, the rhetoric surrounding the debate grew increasingly heated.Feature/Photographic essay Finalist: Christopher Hopkins, Freelance / Al Jazeera, ‘They Teach Us to Sing’. Edwin: Four-year-old Edwin Nangobi stares into the camera as he sits with his mother, 20-year-old Katherine Muwunguzi (r), and Grandmother Joy Nangobi in the room Katherine shares as sleeping quarters with bags of cassava. ‘Kat’ was raped repeatedly by a neighbour at a young age, resulting in the pregnancy and birth of Edwin. Kat lives with an undiagnosed intellectual disability and is unable to comprehend that Edwin is her child. Namazala, Jinja District.Feature/photographic essay, Finalist: Sean Davey, Oculi / ABC News, ‘The Goode Fight’. Local residents comforted 68-year-old Louise Goode at the end of the day her home of 29 years was demolished, and helped move her belongings to neighbours’ houses across the street.News photography, Finalist: David Gray, AFP, ‘Walk to freedom’. Ground crew watch as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange raises his fist after arriving at Canberra Airport in Canberra on June 26, 2024, after he pleaded guilty at a US court in Saipan to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate US national defence information.News photography, Finalist, Kate Geraghty, The Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Aftermath of October 7 attacks’. October 7 attack survivor Rabbi Shachar Butzchak is treated in the Soroka Medical Centre for bullet wounds to his leg after being shot during the Hamas attack in Ofakim, Israel.News photography, Finalist: Flavio Brancaleone, The Sydney Morning Herald, News.com.au and The Australian, ‘Bondi Junction Stabbing Attack, no place is immune to the reach of terror’. People gathered at a bus stop behind the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre after fleeing on Saturday, 13 April, 2024. Visibly distressed, they dispersed after making quick phone calls. Meanwhile, heavily armed police were at the main entrance, ready to enter and secure the building.Sport photography, Finalist: David Gray, AFP, ‘Light, shadows, action at the Australian Open tennis’. France’s Adrian Mannarino looks up at the roof closing on Rod Laver Arena during a practice session ahead of the Australian Open. Melbourne, 11 January, 2024.Sports photography, Finalist: Nick Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Birdsville Rodeo’. Bronco rider Joe Curtin falls from a rodeo horse at the Birdsville Rodeo.Sports photography, Finalist: Quinn Rooney, Getty Images, ‘Australians in the Pool’. Focus: Flynn Southam prepares to compete ahead of the Men’s 200m Freestyle Final at the 2024 Australian Swimming Trials. 11 June, 2024, Brisbane, Australia.
