Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for war corespondents

More than forty war correspondents have gathered in Bayeux on October 13^th and 14^th to debate and award trophies in the following categories: photo, print, radio, television, grand format television, young reporter (print) and video image. Three honorary awards have been attributed: the Regional prize for students and trainees of Normandy (television), the Public’s Choice award (photo) and the Ouest-France – Jean Marin prize (print). Presided by Don McCullin, the international jury of the 30^th edition of the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for war correspondents has reached its verdict…

« It has been a great honor and a great experience to be here. We had two captivating days. Really stressfull on the first – especially on Saturday morning for me with the Photo Category – but captivating. Debates were quite interesting but difficult at the same time. It was not easy to decide the winners but every member of the jury was a generous and kind judge. The losers must not feel sad and the winners deserved what they got. »
Don McCullin

For its 30^th edition the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for War Correspondents is preparing to welcome one of the greatest names in photojournalism: British photojournalist Don (Donald) McCullin has accepted the invitation and agreed to take on the role of President of the International jury. Renowned for his black and white photos, he intends to make full use of his visit to Bayeux to spend time exchanging with his colleagues on his vision of the profession and the future of the news media. 

“When I started to photograph war, I already knew about violence”

At the end of his military service in the Royal Air Force, during which he discovered both travel and photography, Don McCullin’s life took a major turn. Returning to London armed with a camera he immortalised his childhood friends, the Guv’nors gang, for posterity. The Observer newspaper published one of his photos to illustrate a crime story: this marked the start of his career. He quickly began to win major awards for his current affairs photography. In 1961 his report on the construction of the Berlin Wall received a British Press Award; in 1964 his coverage of the civil war in Cyprus was recognised by the distinguished World Press Photo award. In 1966 he signed an exclusive contract with The Sunday Times magazine, with which he would stay until 1984.  During this period he covered every conflict of the time – Vietnam, Cambodia, Congo, Israel, Biafra, Northern Ireland, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Chad, El Salvador, Iran, Uganda…. He also documented the famines in Bihar (India) and Biafra (Nigeria). His forays to the hearts of the world’s trouble spots didn’t leave him unscathed: he received a punctured eardrum, bullet wounds and fractures as well as imprisonment, expulsions and threats. The photographer admits as much:  “I paid in pain in many ways, and I’m lucky to be alive. But I couldn’t stop, I could have but there was something addictive about war. All those years I spent photographing war I thought I was doing something that was useful to our society, to explain what was going on in other places. What I was doing wasn’t personal: I was trying to show people the futility of war.”

“I was trying to show people the futility of war.”

Alongside his reports from overseas, Don McCullin continued to capture the deprivation ravaging his own country – deprived children in Bradford, down-and-outs in London, the working class of England’s industrial towns… “I’ve photographed a lot of poverty in England: there are 2 million people still living almost like dogs in this country. People don’t realise that.” His photographs of England in the 1970s were published in two books, Homecoming in 1979 and Hearts of Darkness in 1980. The latter, a retrospective of the first part of his career, would be the subject of an exhibition at the prestigious Victoria & Albert Museum in London in the year of its publication, and in New York the following year. It would be the start of a lengthy series of exhibitions around the world.  The decade that followed saw another turning point in Don McCullin’s career: although he continued to cover war and its impacts on populations, his drive to tell human stories began to be complemented in his fifties by a passion for landscapes. It was both a passion and a form of therapy.   “When you’ve spent so many years like me looking at war there’s no way you can ever chase away the images from your memory: there’s no treatment. Photographing landscapes helped me, I had to do something different. Instead of going to a psychiatrist I became my own psychiatrist by using my photographic knowledge. Half my memory now is war, and the other half is peace.”  After immortalising all that was worst in the world, Don McCullin would now capture the beauty it has to offer. “I don’t want to be remembered just as a war photographer of dead bodies and war and pain because I’ve also photographed the most beautiful things: I photographed flowers, landscapes, ethnic minority people in jungles. I’ve been all over the world photographing all kinds of things that are not war.” All over the world, certainly, but above all close to home, in the English countryside of Somerset.

“I don’t want to be remembered just as a war photographer, because I’ve also photographed the most beautiful things”

Since he’s no longer physically able to “climb over the hedgerows and fields and gates and travel the world” Don McCullin continues to work on books. Following on from his celebrated autobiography Unreasonable Behaviour, published in 1990 (appearing in France under the title Risques et périls) and numerous other books, in June 2023 he is to publish a collection devoted to the Roman heritage in Turkey. An exhibition in Rome will follow in October. It will be a busy autumn for this prolific photographer, who will preside over the international jury for the 30^th Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for War Correspondents on 13 and 14 October. He is looking forward to meeting up with many of his colleagues there. “I’ve always been very happy being around journalists and photographers. They’ve been my life and I’m always happy when I’m with them. It will be an opportunity for me to hear what they think about the coverage of today’s conflicts, the work of photojournalists in the digital age of social networks. I wonder a lot about the future of the media, and these exchanges will be fascinating.”  As someone who has also lost many friends over the course of the years, and in particular French photographer Gilles Caron (who disappeared in Cambodia in 1970), the memorial ceremony held in Bayeux will be an important occasion. “We can’t forget all those who have died for this cause, people who have sacrificed their lives in journalism to bring the truth of our world to our news organisations. Young journalists have to be aware that only they can keep themselves alive, or keep journalism and the industry of journalism and the news media alive. I’m coming to Bayeux for many reasons, but above all I’d like to use my voice, my influence to say ‘We must keep our eyes open’.”

“Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures”. (donmccullin.com)

1935 – Donald McCullin is born in London
1961 – British Press Award for his report on the building of the Berlin Wall
1964 – World Press Photo for his coverage of the civil war in Cyprus
1971 – Publication of his first photo essay The Destruction Business
1979 – Publication of Homecoming
1980 – Publication of the collection Hearts of Darkness
1992 and 1993 – Prix Erich-Salomon, Appearance of Photo Poche no 53
1993 – Became the first photojournalist to be awarded the C.B.E  (Commander of the British Empire)
1995 – His archives are represented and distributed by Contact Press Images
2001 –  Publication of Don McCullin, a major retrospective
2005 – Exhibition at the Bayeux Award
2006 – Cornell-Capa Prize (Cornell Capa Infinity Award) at the International Center of Photography (ICP), New York
2007 – Publication of In England
2007 – Honoured by the Royal Photographic Society : honorary Fellowship (FRPS) and Centenary Medal for his contribution to the art of photography
2009 – Publication of the 30^th Reporters Without Borders album
2010 – Publication of Southern Frontiers, A Journey Across the Roman Empire on ruins from the Roman empire
2013 – Honorary Gold Visa from Figaro Magazine
2016 – Lucie Award for photojournalism
2017 – Made a Knight Bachelor by the Queen for services to photography. Prince Charles presided at the ceremony.
2019 – Extensive retrospective at Tate Britain, London.
2020 – ICP Lifetime Achievement Award
2023 – President of the Jury for the 30^th Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for War Correspondents

Reflecting our deep admiration for what journalists do, and their bravery in doing it, the International Crisis Group is proud to become a partner of the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for war correspondents and a sponsor of the Grand format Television Prize.

Crisis Group believes strongly in a free press, which plays a vital role in raising awareness about deadly conflicts, not only wars that dominate Western news coverage but also those that are too often neglected or forgotten, in Yemen, South Sudan or DR Congo. Journalists also explore the causes of conflict, and the motives of the combatants, often lighting the way for diplomats and others working to end wars and build peace. In this regard, the work of journalists frequently helps us at Crisis Group pursue our own conflict prevention mission.

The Bayeux Award for war correspondents is a prestigious international annual prize for reporters covering conflicts or post-conflict situations. The Award recognises outstanding reporting about a given conflict and its impact on civilians as well as about the defence of freedom and democracy.
“I’m thrilled that Crisis Group is a partner of the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award”, said Comfort Ero, President and CEO of Crisis Group. “I have immense respect for the work of journalists in conflict zones, who have to navigate the dangerous front lines of conflicts and often battle disinformation”. “Video documentaries can be a powerful tool in shedding light on overlooked conflicts or complex situations as they bring a unique human perspective and can eventually contribute to helping solve them”, she added.

There are ten prizes of €7,000 in all categories of media: written press, radio, television and photography. Bayeux also honours a young reporter. An exhibition of the nominees’ work precedes the award ceremony. This year’s event will be held from 3 to 9 October 2022 in Bayeux, France.

We encourage members of the press to submit their reports or news stories by 7 June 2022. The reporting must have occurred between 1 June 2021 and 31 May 2022. For the Grand format Television Prize, the length of the report must be between 6 and 30 minutes.