The exhibition of World Press Photo 2018 takes place in Rome at Palazzo delle Esposizioni from the 28th of April to the 28th of May 2018 as the Italian premiere exhibition. The World Press Photo is one of the most important awards in the field of photojournalism. Every year, for over 60 years, an independent jury of international experts, is called upon to express themselves on thousands of requests sent to the World Press Photo Foundation in Amsterdam by photojournalists from around the world.
In the 2018 contest, the jury gave prizes in eight categories to 42 photographers from 22 countries. The foundation announced the nominees in each category of the Photo Contest, the Digital Storytelling Contest, and the six nominees for the World Press Photo of the Year on 14 February. All winners, including the World Press Photo of the Year, were revealed at the
Awards Show in Amsterdam on 12 April.
The World Press Photo of the Year honors the photographer whose visual creativity and skills made a picture that captures or represents an event or issue of great journalistic importance in the last year. The jury, chaired by Magdalena Herrera, awards the prize to Ronaldo Schemidt’s picture entitled "Venezuela Crisis" – which also won first prize in the Spot News Single category. The image shows how José Víctor Salazar Balza on fire amid violent clashes with riot police during a protest against President Nicolás Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela. Salazar was set alight when the gas tank of a motorbike exploded. He survived the incident with first - and second degree burns. Schemidt (b. 1971) is a staff photographer for Agence France-Presse, based in Mexico.
Magdalena Herrera, director of photography Geo France and chair of the jury, said about the
winning photograph: "It’s a classical photo, but it has an instantaneous energy and dynamic. The colours, the movement, and it’s very well composed, it has strength. I got an instantaneous emotion..."