Bayeux Prize for War Correspondents: Vadim Ghirda lauded for “War In Ukraine”

Vadim Ghirda first covered Ukraine as a photographer for the Associated Press (AP) at the beginning of the year, roving the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, then kyiv, and the bloodied city of Bucha. 

His lens captured the horrors of a military siege but also moments of sweetness: "I was amazed by the kindness and the generosity of all these people who offered me the honor of sharing with the world their personal tragedy," he said. 

His work, "War in Ukraine", received the Audience Award at the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Prize, which featured ten other reports, mostly devoted to Ukraine, but also to Afghanistan and Haiti. The vote was followed by an exchange with Rafael Yaghobzadeh, a reporter-photographer who has been documenting the situation in Ukraine since 2014.

See an excerpt from Vadim Ghirda's "War in Ukraine" photo essay on Associated Press

In 2022, according to Reporters Without Borders, around 500 journalists are imprisoned around the world, and between 50 and 70 are murdered each year. 

Created to pay tribute to the work of war correspondents, the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Prize held its 29th edition from October 3 to 9, at a dark time marked by the return of war to European soil. Committed to consolidating peace in fragile, crisis and conflict zones, AFD sponsored the Public Prize for the ninth consecutive year.

Read also: Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Prize opens a window onto the world

A round table was organized the same day on the humanitarian and geopolitical consequences of the war in Ukraine on Africa. Discussants included Jean-Bertrand Mothes, Head of the Fragilities, Crises and Conflicts Division at AFD, Dr. Comfort Ero, President of the International Crisis Group think tank, Frédéric Joli, French spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC) and Ksenia Bolchakova, co-director of the documentary "Wagner, Putin's shadow army".