Two poignant photo essays of the winners of the Pulitzer Prize — 2017

The other day, Columbia University in New York announced the winners of the Pulitzer Prize in journalism, music and literature. Each of them will receive a cash bonus of $ 15,000. Among the 14 journalistic awards, two are awarded to photographers: "Art Photography" and "News Photography".

In the first category, the Chicago Tribune employee Jason Wombsgens won for a photo story about how a 10-year-old boy wounded during a shooting in Chicago fought for life (and won). In the second nomination, Daniel Bereulak's photo essay on the fight against drug trafficking in the Philippines, published in The New York Times last summer, was recognized as the best. By the way, in February, one of the pictures in this series brought Bereulak a prize in the prestigious World Press Photo contest.

(Total 28 photos)

Source: Pulitzer

Photo history of Jason Wombsgens

10-year-old schoolboy Tavon Tanner was standing on the porch of his home in Chicago with his mother and twin sister when the shooting started nearby. One bullet hit him in the stomach.

Tavon cries before the start of the operation to remove the bullet. It pierced the stomach, kidney, spleen and left lung and got stuck under the shoulder.

Mom, Melanie Washington, supports her son after a successful operation.

Tavon wanted to be given the ill-fated bullet, but it was taken away as evidence.

The boy's family and hospital staff are at Tavon's bedside.

Tavon is one of 24 children under the age of 12 who were injured in 2016 in Chicago during shootings.

Once in the hospital on August 8, the boy returned home by the end of September. In this photo, he is dancing with his sisters on Thanksgiving.

In November, doctors allowed Tavon to attend school.

Until the end of the year, he went to a psychologist to cope with psychological trauma.

Tavon Tanner is doing well right now.

Photo report by Daniel Bereulak

A downpour falls on the body of Romeo Joel Torres, who was killed in October in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Since Rodrigo Duterte took over the presidency in June, launching a brutal campaign to combat drug trafficking, more than three thousand people suspected of producing and distributing drugs have been shot dead within six months.

During the 35 days that Bereulak spent in Manila, he photographed the bodies of 57 victims of police brutality. Murders occur all over the city — in residential areas, at railway stations, in houses and even near schools.

Every evening, an American photographer in the company of local colleagues came to the entrance to the police department, waited for the next message about the murder and went to the crime scene.

The murders almost always occurred according to one scenario: a motorcycle with two people sitting on it drove up to the victim, and an automatic burst was heard.

Six—year-old Jimji shouts, "Daddy!" at her father's funeral. The body of Jimboy Bolasa was found under the bridge with traces of torture and multiple gunshot wounds. The wife of the deceased claims that he voluntarily surrendered to the authorities to avoid execution for drug trafficking.

In the period from July to November, 35,600 people were arrested in Manila, with a total population of one and a half million.

In the whole country, the figures are even more terrifying. The police went door to door, searching the homes of more than three million people in six months. More than 700 thousand drug addicts and almost 60 thousand dealers have pleaded guilty. Prisons are overcrowded, literally every square meter is used to accommodate new prisoners.

Four men arrested for drug possession.

Murders have become a terrible routine for Filipinos. In October, 36-year-old Edwin Mendoza Alon-Alon was shot dead in a 7-Eleven supermarket in front of other visitors.

Florjon Cruz was killed in his mother's house, where he came to repair the radio.

The funeral of Joselito Rufino. He was playing a video game with his niece when several masked men broke into the house and handcuffed him. They ordered everyone in the house to go to their rooms and turn off the lights. Soon several shots rang out.

There are so many deaths that corpses are stacked in morgues.

Often the dead are found with their hands tied behind their backs and their heads wrapped in duct tape. The killers attach a sheet of paper with ominous inscriptions to the bodies. It says: "A dealer who does not stop will be deprived of his life."

Nelly Diaz cries over the body of her husband Crisostomo, who was a drug addict. He was shot a few days after the start of the anti-drug campaign, when he was walking down the street with three of his nine children.

The police make a report after a raid into a drug den.

Among the 57 victims photographed by Bereulak, there were three women. 17-year-old Angela Fernandez was killed accidentally by shooting at her friend.

"They are killing us like animals," a bystander told the photographer when the American once again arrived at the crime scene.