The Poisoning tells the story of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most determined and outspoken opponent, Alexei Navalny. Navalny was nearly poisoned to death in August 2020 in Siberia and has been held in a high-security prison, some 230 kilometres east of Moscow, for the past two years.

Applications closed on December 31, 2019 and we have been impressed by the very large number of candidates.

For weeks, AFP journalists from the Jerusalem bureau interviewed 10 of the last survivors of Auschwitz, the former Nazi death camp that has come to symbolise the Holocaust.

The award, named after one of AFP's finest correspondents, recognises journalism by locally hired reporters in Asia operating in risky or difficult conditions.

Nairobi-based AFP photographer Yasuyoshi Chiba was nominated in both the World Press Photo of the Year and the General News - Singles categories for his image of a young man reciting a poem during protests in Sudan.

Smialowski was awarded Third Place in the "Political Portfolio" category and a Award of Excellence in the "Politics: History in Pictures" category for his series of photos on American politics.