Michel Pedrero named World Press Photo Best Reportage Photographer for South Sudan series

Documentary photography is one of those fields where the label sounds simple, but the work really isn’t. You don’t just show up, click, and leave. You spend time. You gain access. You wait for the frame that says something true. That’s why Michel Pedrero’s new win matters — on Monday, May 11, the Spanish photographer from Plasencia was named Best Reportage Photographer in the 2026 35AWARDS for a series shot in South Sudan with the Mundari community. ### What actually happened? Pedrero won the reportage category in the international 35AWARDS competition. The work that carried him there was a photo series made in South Sudan, centered on the Mundari people. Local coverage in Spain says the award was announced May 11 and that Pedrero also picked up other recognitions in the same contest, including Best Reportage Photograph and a place among the competition’s top 100 photographers. (elperiodicoextremadura.com) ### Wait — was this World Press Photo? No — and that’s the key correction. The story circulating today is about 35AWARDS, not World Press Photo. World Press Photo announced its 2026 contest winners in April, and its own site says there is no hierarchy inside each category beyond the separate Photo of the Year award. So “Best Reportage Photographer” belongs to 35AWARDS here, not to World Press Photo. (elperiodicoextremadura.com) ### Why is the Mundari series such a fit? Because the Mundari photographs are exactly the kind of work reportage prizes like to reward — immersive, human, and built on proximity rather than spectacle. Pedrero’s broader portfolio leans hard into communities, identity, and daily life under difficult conditions. His published work has also appeared with outlets and platforms like National Geographic, The Times, and Vogue, which helps explain why judges would read this as sustained documentary work rather than travel imagery. (worldpressphoto.org) ### How big was the field? Big enough that the award lands as more than a niche club ribbon. 35AWARDS says one of its recent editions drew more than 124,000 participants from 174 countries and over 470,000 submitted photographs. The Spanish report on Pedrero’s win uses the same scale and says the judging ran through multiple rounds with 50 experts from around the world. Basically — even allowing for how photo contests market themselves, this was a very crowded field. (35awards.com) ### Why does this matter for Pedrero specifically? Because this isn’t a random breakout. Pedrero was already on the international radar. In 2022, he was a World Press Photo finalist for “Sudan Looks at Us,” a project tied to Sudanese life during a coup period. This new award suggests that earlier recognition wasn’t a one-off — he’s building a real track record in long-form documentary work around African communities and conflict-adjacent realities. (elperiodicoextremadura.com) ### What kind of photographer is he? He’s basically a field photographer with a documentary spine. His bios describe him as a photojournalist and documentary photographer focused on social portraiture, reportage, and remote communities across multiple continents. That matters because the award fits the pattern of his career rather than pulling him in a new direction. (lastplaces.com) ### So what’s the real takeaway? The headline isn’t “a photographer won a prize.” It’s that a Spanish documentary photographer with a history of serious Sudan coverage just turned long, patient fieldwork into a major category win — and the underlying story is stronger once you fix the label. This was 35AWARDS, not World Press Photo. But it still marks a meaningful step up for Michel Pedrero. (elperiodicoextremadura.com) (all-about-photo.com)