The international jury of the 46th annual World Press Photo Contest has selected a black and white picture by the Los Angeles-based Armenian photographer Eric Gregorian, represented by Polaris Images, as World Press Photo of the Year 2002.
The winning picture was taken on a Leica rangefinder camera on June 23rd, 2002, after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Qazvin province of northwest Iran, killing more than 500 people in some 12 villages. In the photograph, surrounded by soldiers and villagers digging graves for victims of that morning’s earthquake, a young boy clings on to his dead father’s clothes as he squats by the grave where his father is about to be buried.
3,913 professional photographers from 118 countries participated in this year’s contest. With a total number of 53,597 images, the 2003 contest attracted a record number of entries.

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