Entry Title: " Drought, Poverty and Famine"
Name: JM Lopez, Spain
Category: Professional, General News


Entry Description: More than 50 children have died in few months because of the malnutrition and famine in the East area of Guatemala known as “Dry Corridor”. The lost of the last corn and bean harvest due to drought and climate change has left more than 50.000 families in a critical situation, they live in extreme poverty conditions and they only depend on their harvest to survive.

Bio I am an independent Spanish photographer who is trying to earn a living with this job and learn something everyday. After studying Photography at the School of Arts of Oviedo (Spain) I was working as a staff photographer for eleven years in “La Cronica de Leon”, a local newspaper of my city, until 2009. As a freelance photographer I have travelled around the world producing my own stories. I have been to more than sixty countries and I worked documenting issues in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Iran, Kosovo, Haiti, Guatemala, Nagorno-Karabakh, Venezuela, DR Congo and Syria among others. My work has been published by newspapers and magazines all over the world such as The New York Times, The Guardian, L’Espresso, Liberation, Der Spiegel, The Washington Post, Daily News, Le Monde, El Pais, The Telegraph, La Repubblica, Ria Novosti, Haaretz, Daily Mail, and The Times. I am focused on issues having to do with social conflicts and injustice in the world and I would like to think that my work can help to improve lives of the people who I photograph. By means of photojournalism I can express my own creativity and at the same time tell the others what is happening around us. Awards 2012 - Nominated Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund - 3rd Place International Photography Awards (IPA) Editorial General News. - Shortlisted Vienna International Photo Awards for Documentary Photography. 2011 - 2nd Place UNICEF Photo of the Year Award. - Award-winning at ANI-Pix Palace, Visa Pour L’Image Festival. 2010 - Finalist International Prize of Photojournalism City of Gijon. - Finalist Roberto Villagraz Scholarship. - Finalist International Prize Caja España B/N Photography. 2006 - Honorable Mention Albarracin Photo Festival Scholarship. - Finalist International Prize of Photojournalism City of Gijon. 2005 - Finalist International Prize of Photojournalism City of Gijon. 2003 - 1st Place Fujifilm Euro Press Photo Awards, National Feature Category. 2000 - Finalist Francisco Cossio Award of Journalism, Photography Category.