Gaza Photographer Wins Bayeux Prize for Third Straight Year

7 sourcesUpdated Oct 11, 20261 min read

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Mahmoud Abu Hamda won the Nikon first prize and Public’s Choice at the 33rd Bayeux Calvados-Normandie Prize for War Correspondents on October 10, 2026, for the unpublished reportage What War Leaves Behind. Absent from Bayeux, he appeared only in a pre-recorded hall video, saying his greatest honor is that these photos have been able to leave the borders of Gaza. It was the third consecutive Nikon win by a Palestinian photographer working in Gaza, after Mahmud Hams (AFP) in 2024 and Saher Alghorra (Zuma Press) in 2025. Foreign reporters remain barred from entering Gaza independently. Lyse Doucet chaired the jury. Abu Hamda has worked as a photographer since 2011 and taught at the University of Gaza.

A young woman in a black hijab hangs laundry between tents in a displacement camp in Gaza.Photo: Hosny salah · Pexels · source

A Palestinian rescue worker in an orange vest kneels in prayer on the ground amid rubble in Gaza.Photo: Musa Alzanoun | موسى الزعنون · Pexels · source

The Washington Post won print for a Ukrainian soldier trapped 177 days. Anas Baba of NPR won radio for recovering victims’ bodies in Gaza. CNN won television and video image for a report on Israeli soldiers serving settlers in the West Bank. Jehad Alshrafi of AP won Young Reporter photography; his rubble-pitch football photo was removed from a Deauville festival in August then reinstated by court order.

A photographer documents the extensive destruction of buildings in Gaza.Photo: Baraa Obied · Pexels · source

CONTESTED: Ahram Online called the fighting Israel’s genocidal war and said tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed; France 24 and Türkiye Today described Gaza work after Israel’s offensive following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. Ahram cast CNN’s piece as exposing settler attacks; others said serving settlers.

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