New South Wales-born Daniel Berehulak's photo-essay on death in the Philippines has earned his second Pulitzer Prize in three years.
Now based in Mexico City, the freelance photographer was honoured for powerful storytelling through images published in the New York Times showing the callous disregard for human life brought about by a government assault on drug dealers and users.
Berehulak tells how most nights at 9pm he would join a crowd of local journalists at Manila's main police station, waiting for word of the latest killing and then racing to the scene. This picture shows heavy rain falling on the body of Romeo Joel Torres Fontanilla, who was killed by two gunmen on motorcycles. One of 3,500 unsolved homicides in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte took office June 30 and started a brutal crackdown on drug users and pushers, he is one of 57 victims Berehulak photographed at 41 crime scenes over 35 days in Manila. . More than 2000 people died in official police operations from July through November, and many more at the hands of vigilantes.
More at http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/daniel-berehulak-freelance-photographer
Berehulak, who wins US$15,000, won a 2015 Pulitzer for his coverage of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and was a finalist in 2011 for his coverage of the 2010 floods in Pakistan. His photography has also earned five World Press Photo awards and the John Faber and Feature Photography awards from the Overseas Press Club. In 2014 and 2015, he was awarded the Freelance/Agency Photographer of the Year by Pictures of the Year International, and most recently he was named the Photojournalist of the Year for large-circulation publications in the National Press Photographers Association's Best of Photojournalism 2016 contest.
Born to Ukrainian immigrant parents, he grew up on a farm outside of Sydney and worked on the farm and at his father's refrigeration company. After graduating from University of NSW, he started shooting sports matches for a man who ran his business from his garage, and in 2002 began freelancing with Getty Images in Sydney. He worked for Getty in London from 2005-2008, before relocating to New Delhi in 2009.
He went freelance in 2013, and is a regular contributor to the New York Times.
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