Brais Lorenzo honored
Galician photographer Brais Lorenzo was named among honored photographers for his coverage of wildfires, according to recent coverage that highlights award recognition (elespanol.com). The write‑up frames his work in the context of visual testimony around fire and crisis (elespanol.com).
Galician photojournalist Brais Lorenzo has won a 2026 World Press Photo award for “Burned Land,” his coverage of the wildfires that tore through Galicia last summer. (worldpressphoto.org) World Press Photo announced its 42 regional winners on April 9, and Lorenzo was recognized in Europe’s Stories category. The overall World Press Photo of the Year is due to be announced on April 23. (elespanol.com) His project was produced for EFE, Revista 5W and El País, and centers on fires in Galicia during 2025, when more than 200,000 hectares burned in what World Press Photo and partner coverage described as Spain’s worst fire season in about three decades. (worldpressphoto.org) One of the images highlighted by World Press Photo shows a man fighting flames with a branch in Cualedro, Ourense, on August 15, 2025, a detail the organization used to show how residents stepped in when firefighting resources were stretched. (worldpressphoto.org) The award puts a local disaster in Galicia inside a global photojournalism competition that this year drew 3,747 photographers from 141 countries and 57,376 images. Of the 42 regional winners, 31 photographed stories in their own regions. (elespanol.com) World Press Photo said the fires in Galicia were linked to drought and heat intensified by climate change, rural depopulation, and forestry policies that favored highly flammable non-native species. Its jury said Lorenzo’s series combined close access to the flames with a personal view shaped by his ties to the region. (worldpressphoto.org) Lorenzo was born in Ourense and has documented Galician wildfires since 2011, according to World Press Photo and Fundación Photographic Social Vision. He said the award-winning series covered “the worst fire wave in the history of my homeland, Galicia.” (worldpressphoto.org) (fundacionpsv.org) Spain had three winners in this year’s contest: Lorenzo, Luis Tato and Diego Ibarra Sánchez. Their projects covered Galicia’s fires, protests in Madagascar and the effect of war on children’s education. (fundacionpsv.org) The 2026 World Press Photo exhibition will return to Barcelona’s Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona from November 6 to December 13. Lorenzo’s images are now part of the year’s official winning selection. (elespanol.com)
