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Every year, an immense number of photographs—billions, even trillions—are taken, but only a rare few rise to the level of true distinction. The Pulitzer Prize for Photography, arguably the most renowned honor for journalism-related images, is awarded to those photographs or series that set themselves apart. This prestigious recognition has been presented annually since 1942.
Notice: The following list includes images that may be unsettling for some viewers. Please continue with caution.
10. Assistance From A Padre
The photograph, titled “Aid from a Padre,” earned Hector Rondon Lovera the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in 1963. It captures a priest giving the last rites to a dying soldier while under sniper fire. This poignant moment was taken on June 4, 1962, during the El Portenazo military rebellion in Venezuela, when rebels attempted to seize the city of Puerto Cabello. The priest featured in the image is Venezuelan naval chaplain Luis Padillo.
Padillo performed this act openly, knowing it was highly unlikely the enemy would target him. His death would likely have been used as propaganda, and as many of the enemy soldiers were Catholics, they would probably have refused any command to harm him.
The photo is further enhanced by its striking background: a shop sign reading “La Carneceria,” which translates to “butcher’s shop,” “slaughter,” or “carnage.” The military rebellion lasted only four days (June 2–6, 1962), claiming the lives of 400 people and injuring 700 more.
9. Execution In Liberia
In 1981, Larry C. Price earned the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for his poignant images of the 1980 Liberian coup d'état. This coup was orchestrated by 18 noncommissioned officers of the Liberian Army and led by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe. The nation's president, William R. Tolbert Jr., was killed, along with 28 of his supporters.
Thirteen of the president's ministers, accused of corruption, treason, and human rights violations, were hastily tried without the opportunity to defend themselves with legal counsel. Four of them were sentenced to death, though the ruling was later overturned by a “Redemption Council” led by Doe, which declared all thirteen guilty and condemned them to execution. These ministers were publicly humiliated, paraded naked through Monrovia’s streets before being bound to poles at the execution site.
At the execution site, only nine poles were available. Nine of the officials were tied to these poles and executed, while the remaining four were forced to witness the deaths. One of the ministers, Cecil Dennis, displayed remarkable courage, staring directly into the eyes of his executioner. He survived the initial volley of gunfire but was eventually killed by two soldiers who shot him with a submachine gun and a pistol at close range.
8. The Seton Hall University Fire
In 2001, Matt Rainey was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his haunting images of two roommates, Shawn Simons and Alvaro Llanos, who suffered severe burns in a fire on January 19, 2000, at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. The photos were taken while they were recovering at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey.
The Seton Hall fire, which tragically claimed the lives of three students and injured 58 others, was the result of a prank gone wrong. Two students started the blaze in Boland Hall, a dormitory known for frequent false fire alarms, around 4:30 AM. At first, students ignored the fire alarm, thinking it was another false alarm, but they began to evacuate once they realized the fire was real.
One student jumped from a third-floor window, while two others witnessed another student burn to death. Ultimately, two students perished in the fire, while another died from asphyxiation. In addition to the fatalities, two firefighters, three police officers, and 50 students sustained injuries, with five of the students suffering severe burns.
Kent State University Shooting
John Paul Filo, a photographer, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1971 for his powerful images taken during the Kent State University shootings on May 4, 1970. The photograph that won the prize featured a woman, Mary Ann Veccio, kneeling next to the lifeless body of Jeffrey Miller.
On April 30, 1970, President Richard Nixon addressed the nation, announcing the need to draft 150,000 more soldiers for the Vietnam War and revealing plans for a U.S. invasion of Cambodia. In response, students across the country began protesting, including burning ROTC buildings on various campuses.
The protests reached Kent State University in Ohio, where Governor James Rhodes described the students as the worst type of Americans. He issued a statewide ban on protests, but the students defied him. The National Guard was called in, and they used tear gas on the students. Once they ran out of tear gas, they resorted to gunfire. By the end of the day, four students were dead and 10 others injured. An investigation followed, and eight members of the National Guard were charged, though the charges were eventually dropped due to a “lack of evidence.”
Bombings of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
In 1999, several Associated Press photographers won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for a series of images taken after the bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. On August 7, 1998, two bombs exploded outside separate embassies: one in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the other in Nairobi, Kenya. The blasts resulted in 224 fatalities and over 4,500 injuries. Known as the East African bombings, these attacks led the FBI to send over 900 agents to investigate. The assault was later confirmed to have been carried out by Al-Qaeda.
The explosion at the Nairobi embassy was so powerful that it was heard 16 kilometers (10 miles) away, and it caused the destruction of a five-story building nearby. The embassy itself sustained severe damage, with its bomb-proof doors torn apart. In Tanzania, a survivor recounted that the blast threw him 1.5 meters (5 feet) backward.
Fire Escape Collapse
In 1976, Stanley Forman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for News Photography for his 1975 image of 19-year-old Diana Bryan and her two-year-old goddaughter, Tiare Jones, as they fell from a collapsed fire escape during a fire in Boston, Massachusetts. On July 22, 1975, just as Stanley was preparing to leave his job at the Boston Herald, he received a call about a fire. He hurried to the scene and found Diana and Tiare standing on the fire escape. Firefighter Bob O’Neil soon joined them, and a fire truck raised its ladder to rescue them. However, as Bob climbed the ladder, the fire escape collapsed.
As Bob clung to the ladder with one arm, Diana and Tiare plummeted from a height of about 15 meters (50 feet). Diana sustained severe injuries from the fall and tragically died from her wounds later that day. Tiare survived the fall, as she landed on top of Diana.
The powerful images Stanley captured were widely distributed, prompting Boston officials to revise fire escape laws. They were also used by fire departments across various countries and featured on pamphlets about fire safety for many years.
The Elian Gonzalez Controversy
In 2001, Alan Diaz of the Associated Press earned the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for his powerful image of U.S. federal agents, armed with submachine guns, forcibly taking young Elian Gonzalez from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida. The situation began in 1999 when six-year-old Elian was discovered clinging to an inner tube at sea after the boat he was on, traveling from Cuba to the U.S., sank, claiming the lives of his mother and nine others. After his rescue, Elian was placed with relatives in Miami, but his father, Juan Miguel, sought his return to Cuba. This sparked a fierce international dispute between Cuba and the U.S., with Fidel Castro leading protests for Elian's return. Meanwhile, Elian's relatives in Miami refused to send him back to Cuba.
After months of legal battles and protests in both Cuba and Miami, the decision was made for Elian to be reunited with his father, who was already in the U.S., and returned to Cuba. His Miami relatives were ordered to hand him over to the Department of Justice. When they refused, Attorney General Janet Reno authorized an early-morning raid on their home to seize Elian. He was subsequently flown to Washington, D.C., where he was reunited with his father and flown back to Cuba.
Screaming Girl
Massoud Hossaini, an Afghanistan-born photographer, won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. His award-winning image captured 12-year-old Afghan girl Tarana Akbari, who was screaming in the aftermath of a suicide bombing that claimed over 70 lives, including seven of her family members. The blast occurred while her family, along with others, was in Kabul to observe the Ashura festival, a sacred day for Shia Muslims marking the murder of Imam Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, in A.D. 680.
The worshippers were gathered at the Abul Fazl shrine for the festival when a suicide bomber detonated explosives hidden in his backpack. Massoud, who had been covering the Ashura festival for 10 years, was present at the scene when the blast occurred. Despite being injured in the explosion, he managed to capture the raw moment. Notably, this photograph was taken immediately after the explosion, setting it apart from others usually snapped long after the event. The attack was even condemned by the Taliban.
Saffron Revolution
The 2007 Saffron Revolution in Burma, also known as Myanmar, was sparked by the government’s decision to remove fuel subsidies on August 15, 2007. This caused a staggering 66 percent rise in the price of petrol and diesel, as well as a 500 percent increase in the cost of natural gas. The hikes also resulted in a sharp rise in food and transportation costs. In response, protests erupted, with around 15,000 monks marching through the streets demanding the end of military rule. On September 26, 2007, the military junta responded with a brutal crackdown, raiding temples and arresting monks.
In 2008, Adrees Latif of Reuters won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for his haunting image of Japanese videographer Kenji Nagai, who was fatally shot during the military crackdown. Kenji had been documenting the protests in Rangoon when government troops stormed the area and opened fire on the crowd. In the photograph, Kenji is seen lying on the ground with his back to the earth, still recording the chaotic scene even after being hit. The next photograph revealed Kenji dead, with his hands and camera by his side. Video footage later confirmed that Kenji was deliberately pushed to the ground by a soldier before being intentionally shot at close range, despite initial reports claiming he was struck by a stray bullet.
Sinking Of The Andrea Doria
In 1957, photographer Harry A. Trask received the Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his stunning shots of the sinking Andrea Doria taken from an airplane just nine minutes before the ship completely vanished beneath the waves. The Andrea Doria was the last major transatlantic ship to sink before airplanes took over as the preferred means of crossing the Atlantic. When it was constructed, the Andrea Doria was hailed as Italy’s largest, fastest, and, reportedly, “safest” ship.
The Andrea Doria was believed to be unsinkable. Equipped with cutting-edge navigational tools, including two radars, it was designed with 11 watertight compartments that allowed the ship to stay afloat even if two of them flooded. Its lifeboats were crafted so they could be deployed even if the ship tilted up to 15 degrees.
On July 25, 1956, the Andrea Doria collided with the much smaller Stockholm, which damaged the ship’s hull and ruptured its fuel tank, causing water to flood the nearly empty tanks. The flooding compromised the ship’s stability, and it listed 20 degrees, which made it impossible to deploy the lifeboats on the starboard side. Poor internal design allowed the flooding to spread to other compartments, worsening the tilt.
Despite the severe damage, nearly all passengers aboard the Andrea Doria survived, thanks to the efforts of several ships, including the Stockholm and the Ile de France, which provided lifeboats. Captain Calama of the Andrea Doria refused to abandon ship long after the last person was rescued, believing it could still be saved and towed back to port. Ultimately, he ordered his remaining crew to leave without him, but they refused until he finally agreed to depart with them. Of the 1,706 passengers, only 46 died, mostly due to the initial collision. The Stockholm lost five crew members. Had the Andrea Doria sunk immediately, the casualties could have been comparable to those of the Titanic.
+ The Firefighter And The Young Girl
In 1989, Ron Olshwanger, a furniture dealer with no professional photography background, received the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography. His powerful image depicted firefighter Adam Long from the St. Louis Fire Department performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on two-year-old Patricia Pettus, whom he had just rescued from a burning home.
Ron, who had a police scanner and a passion for photographing fires, arrived just in time to capture the moment Adam Long emerged from the blazing building holding the unconscious Patricia. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch purchased the photo for $200 and prominently featured it on their front page. Long was honored with a medal of valor, and Ron generously donated his Pulitzer prize money to Patricia’s mother and sister.
Sadly, the story took a tragic turn. Patricia succumbed to complications from the fire six days afterward. However, the photograph played a crucial role: it prompted people to purchase smoke detectors for their homes.
