1985 Photo Contest, News Feature, 1st prize
Photographer

Hans-Olav Forsang

Verdens Gang

01 January, 1984

At the height of the famine in Ethiopia a two-year-old girl weighs in 3,000 grams. At the hospital in Mekele, children were weighed every day to establish whether their bodies would be able to process any food. Hans-Olav Forsang: 'I was sent to Ethiopia on assignment by my newspaper, Verdens Gang. At the time the world was becoming increasingly aware of the huge scale of the famine. Norway started the biggest aid campaign ever, and my eight-page picture story made a significant contribution. I remember thinking when I took this picture that my own daughter weighed 3,200 grams when she was born!' (World Press Photo retrospective Children's Jury exhibition, 2003)

About the photographer

Hans-Olav Forsang

Hans-Olav Forsang (Ankenes, Norway, 1955) studied photography in England and Sweden and worked for many years as a full-time photographer, and later as picture editor, for Verden...

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