Reuters Team From Greece Among 2016 Pulitzer Prize Winners

The Reuters team, Yannis Behrakis, Alkis Konstantinides & Alexandros Avramides, won a 2016 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news and photography of the European refugee crisis.

 

The Reuters photo coverage of Middle Eastern migrants arriving in Europe was led by Yannis Behrakis, chief photographer for Greece and Cyprus and the Guardian newspaper's 2015 Agency Photographer of the Year.

The team captured a series of images of migrants crowded on flimsy sea craft and their first moments upon reaching Europe.

"We showed the world what was going on, and the world cared. It showed that humanity is still alive," Behrakis said. "We made for these unfortunate people’s voice to be heard. Now with a Pulitzer, we feel that our work has been professionally recognized."

Some images showed families rushing ashore, flailing away in the water or collapsing on the beach. Others juxtaposed the rafters at sea with a cruise ship or a leaping dolphin or the setting sun.

The Reuters photo staff was named as co-winner for breaking news photography along with Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, Tyler Hicks and Daniel Etter of The New York Times, also for their images of the migrant crisis.

It was the third Pulitzer for Reuters, a unit of Thomson Reuters, having won for international reporting in 2014 and for breaking news photography in 2008.

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