AFP photographers honoured in China awards

AFP photographer Daniel Sannum Lauten on Tuesday won a top prize in the China International Press Photo (CHIPP) competition, with an image of a ski-jumper framed against the moon. Sannum Lauten, who is based in Oslo, won for best individual sport photo in the awards, launched in 2005 by the China Photojournalists Society. This year it received more than 30,000 entries from 60 countries. Two other AFP photographers also received honours, including Hong Kong-based Philippe Lopez for an image from the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan which struck the Philippines last year and left thousands dead. Lopez's photo, which earned the silver prize in the "war and catastrophe" category, showed survivors carrying religious icons in a procession, with a devastated landscape as its backdrop. The image also won the spot news category in the World Press Photo awards this year. Istanbul-based AFP photographer Bulent Kilic was recognised for an image showing Turkish protesters massing in the capital, which won a commendation in the category for "major news not related to war or catastrophe". The top prize in the CHIPP awards went to Beijing-based Canadian photographer Kevin Frayer, for a black-and-white shot of a woman sitting amid buildings demolished by Typhoon Haiyan.