The Robert Capa Gold Medal Award 2011

André Liohn

Best published photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise

AWARD DATE: 2011

AWARD NAME: The Robert Capa Gold Medal Award 2011

AWARD RECIPIENT: André Liohn

AWARD RECIPIENT AFFILIATION: European Pressphoto Agency / Prospekt Photographers for Newsweek

AWARD HONORED WORK: Almost Dawn in Libya

Liohn’s harrowing and dramatic series of images taken in the besieged Libyan city of Misrata are truly in the spirit of Robert Capa’s combat photography. These searing images are a first rate example of close quarters combat photography obtained at great personal risk. Rarely do we see photos taken so deep in the fog of war, serving, as they do, to shine a bright light on the horrors and consequences of combat.
 

In Tripoli, at the 32th Khamis Brigade headquarters, rebel forces found 53 carbonized bodies inside a warehouse used as a detention facility by soldiers loyal to Col. Muammar Gaddafi. Some bodies showed signs of execution. Rebels arrive at the warehouse.

A severely wounded pro Gaddafi soldier being captured by rebels in Tripoli street in Misratah. Ambulance drivers and doctors often received threats from rebel fighters and locals in situations they had to rescue and treat pro Gaddafi soldiers.

The battle of Misratah lasted for 4 months and became the site of one of the major and most symbolic battles of the 9 months long armed uprising against the Libyan dictatorship. During the siege, the city saw intense fighting and daily assaults.

Rebel fighters in a dispute with pro government soldiers in Tripoli street Misratah.

Rebels ready to invade a house where soldiers from the pro government forces had their base in the Zwaaby area in Misrata after the rebels managed to take control of most of the areas controlled by the military forces, on April 24, 2011.

Rebels fighting against pro government soldiers inside a building in Tripoli street down town Misratah. The battle of Misratah lasted for four months and became a symbol of the nine-months long armed uprising against the Libyan dictatorship.

Rebels entering the city of Sirte the final major stronghold of Gaddafi loyalists. During the battle Sirte was left almost completely in ruins, with many buildings totally destroyed or damaged. A mortally wounded pro Gaddafi soldier being arrested in Sirt.

Rebels posing in front the body of a soldier, loyal to Col. Muamar Gaddafi killed in Sirte down town in confrontation with rebels.

Rebels entering the city of Sirte the final major stronghold of Gaddafi loyalists. During the battle Sirte was left almost completely in ruins, with many buildings totally destroyed or damaged. Rebels in the front line in the outskirts of Sirte.

An ambulance ready to evacuate a dead rebel to Benghazi from the Ras Lanuf Hospital during the first days of combat. Without war experience, ambulance drivers, many time volunteers, risked their lives to rescue patients in the battler front lines in Libya.

 

Rebel fighter Hamid Shwaili calls for help after being mortally wounded in a battle against soldiers loyal to the government of Muammar Gaddafi. The battle took place in one of the last pro government controlled parts of Tripoli Street in Misratah.

 

Wounded pro-Gaddafi soldiers arrested in Misratah. The TFC in the city had not prepared a facility to treat wounded government soldiers. At this place only one doctor, without any medical supplies, was responsible to receive and treat dozens of wounded.

 

(No citation)