SJA member and the 2007 SJA British Sports Photographer of the Year Gareth Copley was today named as the winner of the sports action category in the prestigious World Press Photo contest.

The PA Sport cricket specialist’s winning image shows England’s Jonathan Trott being run out at the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval last August.



“I knew the results would be announced today, so I looked on the internet, checked my emails and saw this,” a shocked Copley told the British Journal of Photography.

Copley says he always enters World Press Photo, to receive the annual book that is sent to all participants. Copley believs it is the first time that a cricket image has won a World Press Photo prize.

Judges awarded prizes to 63 photographers from 23 countries in one of journalism’s most prestigious photo contests. The jury spent two weeks reviewing a record 101,960 photographs by 5,847 photographers from 128 different nations.

The contest is only open to professional photographers, with winners to receive a prize of 10,000 euro and a camera at a ceremony in Amsterdam on May 2.

Click here for The Guardian‘s gallery of winning pictures

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