1st Prize Stories Photo by Giulio Di Sturco / World Press Photo
The World Press Photo Contest has withdrawn its first prize from the photographer Giovanni Troilo as a result of an investigation for having falsified the location of his Charleroi project.
An Italian photographer called Giovanni Troilo was named the winner of the World Press Photo contest was disqualified yesterday due to falsification of information regarding the photo submitted in the contest. Troilo had presented a catalogue of 12 photos supposedly shot in Charleroi, a Belgian city notorious for its prostitution problem in the Contemporary Issue Category.
The mayor of the city of Charleroi was angered by the pictures of Troilo as it depicted the city in a very negative light. Therefore the mayor accused Troilo of having faked some of the locations of his pictures.
As the rumors started flying a full investigation was launched by the World Press organization. The organization found Troilo had actually in fact misrepresented some of the locations in his photos.
All of the pictures were not taken in Charleroi and one was taken in an entirely different location and then presented as part of a project on Charleroi. It was discovered one of the pictures in the collection was shot about 60 km away from Charleroi in the city of Molenbeek, Brussels.
In a surprising turn of events after the award was withdrawn the Mayor of Charleroi asked the World Press organisation to consider their prize withdrawal from Troilo.
The falsification was a breach of the World Press award’s rules and regulations, therefore disciplinary measure were taken against Troilo and his awards was rescinded. Later Trolio admitted the photo had been taken by him at a different location.
The award for the Contemporary Issue category awards pictures based upon their authenticity and degree of awareness for issues such as poverty, drugs and prostitution. Every year about 20 percent of the photos are found to be ineligible due to misinterpretation.
Lars Boering the managing director of the World Press Photo organisation in a statement released to the press said the World Press Photo Contest is based on trust but they do have checks and controls in case of suspicion and in Troilo’s case a rule had clearly been broken and a line had been crossed which has consequences.
As a result of the disqualification the second place photo taken by another Italian photographer Giulio Di Sturco will be given the first prize in the Contemporary category. The new winning photograph by Sturco depicts the rise of Chollywood, China’s rising film and television industry.
The photo shows a scene where a TV series is being filmed in the Hengdian World studios, the world’s largest film studio. China is the fastest-growing film market in the world and the number of cinemas in the country has doubled in the past four years.