AFP Wins the Visa d’or for Photos of the Madagascar Uprising

MADAGASCAR · CULTURE

Pictures of the Madagascar uprising have won photojournalism’s most closely watched news award. The Visa d’or News went to Luis Tato of Agence France-Presse.

What happened in Madagascar

The movement took its name from the age of the people in the bank. It began over power cuts and water shortages.

The protests were put down with force. By mid-October the army had taken power and President Andry Rajoelina had fled the country.

Similar movements ran through Nepal, Morocco and the Philippines in the same year. They shared tactics and imagery more than any common politics.

These uprisings often started with small grievances. They grew into challenges to entire governments.

Why the jury chose this work

The Visa d’or News is given for a body of work, not a single picture. That rewards staying with a story rather than catching one lucky moment.

Tato spent about ten days on the story, staying with it as the protests turned.

Perpignan has long been the place where the profession decides which stories mattered. A prize there pulls an event back into view months after the news cycle has moved on.

Paris Match funds the award in memory of Roger Thérond, its former editor. That gives it reach into a general readership rather than only a specialist one.

Who Luis Tato is

He is a Spanish photographer based in Nairobi. Since 2023 he has run AFP’s photo coverage of East Africa and the Indian Ocean.

That posting is why he was in Antananarivo at all.

His record is already unusual. He won the City of Perpignan Remi Ochlik award in 2018.

World Press Photo awards followed in 2021, 2025 and 2026. Pictures of the Year International named him photographer of the year in 2023.

The case for a permanent bureau

Tato’s presence in Madagascar was the product of a regional posting, not a short trip flown in for the news. Wire services that keep staff on the continent see stories early and stay with them.

The alternative has thinned out. Many foreign desks now cover Africa through short trips, arriving after an event has already been defined by others.

The prize is therefore an argument as much as an honour. Continuous coverage produces work that episodic coverage cannot.

A permanent presence also builds trust. Local sources speak more freely to a familiar face.

What images do to a political story

Madagascar is not a country that ordinarily commands sustained international attention. Its 2025 crisis competed with a crowded year.

Photography is often what breaks that indifference. It also fixes an account of events.

Pictures made on the street become the reference against which later official versions are checked.

There is a limit to what any of that changes. The problems behind the protests run deep, and a prize does not switch the lights back on.

Photojournalism’s own economics

The industry that produces this work has been contracting for two decades. Picture budgets shrank and staff positions became freelance ones.

Awards have taken on more weight as a result. Wire agencies remain the main employer of full-time photographers outside a handful of magazines.

That is why one AFP job in Nairobi shapes what the world sees of the region.

Perpignan is also a marketplace. Editors, agencies and grant-makers meet there, and a prize converts directly into future commissions.

Madagascar since the protests

The island has kept making news for reasons connected to the same underlying pressures. It reopened its mining register this year after sixteen years.

Its high court upheld a law reclaiming colonial-era land titles.

Rare earths have drawn outside money and outside politics. Washington has put US$4.84 million behind a US$150 million mining project on the island.

Young Malagasy are watching those decisions closely.

What to watch next

The festival runs through September in Perpignan. Watch for where the winning pictures are shown.

Wider publication usually follows.

Watch too for how Malagasy outlets use the moment. A prize awarded in France often has its largest effect at home.

The images may also shape how the world remembers the uprising. That memory will matter when the country’s politics shift again.

Luis Tato’s path to the prize

Luis Tato grew up in Spain and moved to Africa over a decade ago. He has covered conflict, climate and daily life across the continent.

His work has appeared in major international outlets. He has documented everything from famine to football.

Tato’s approach is patient and immersive. He often returns to the same communities over many years.

That long view is visible in his Madagascar pictures. They show both the fury and the fragility of the moment.

What Visa pour l’Image means

Visa pour l’Image is the world’s leading festival for photojournalism. It takes place every year in Perpignan, a city in southern France.

The festival was founded in 1989. It shows the best documentary photography from the past year.

Winning a Visa d’or is a career milestone. It brings international recognition and often leads to exhibitions and book deals.

The prize is judged by a jury of editors and photographers. Their choice signals which stories deserve a second look.

The 2025 Madagascar protests in context

Madagascar had seen growing anger over years of poor services. Power cuts and water shortages were the final straw.

Young people, many of them students, took to the streets in Antananarivo. They called for President Rajoelina to step down.

The government responded with arrests and violence. Dozens of protesters were killed.

By October, the military had taken control. Rajoelina fled, and a new government was formed.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error