Two Thomasian photojournalists have emerged as winners in the 69th 2026 World Press Photo Contest.
UST alumni Jez Aznar and Aaron Favila were among the seven winners from the Asia-Pacific and Oceania region, and part of a total of 42 awardees selected by an independent jury.
Aznar, a photographer for The New York Times and Getty Images, was recognized for his piece Scam Hub Under Siege that captured a compound in Myanmar being “liberated” by rebel forces.
Aznar was a fine arts major in advertising at the University of Santo Tomas from 1991 to 1994. He also studied painting in UP Diliman.
He later trained in photojournalism at the Konrad Adeneur Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University and in Conflict Sensitive Journalism at the Deutsche Welle Akademie in Berlin, Germany.
Veteran photojournalist Aaron Favila won with his piece Wedding in the Flood, featuring bride Jamaica Aguilar who prepared to wade down the aisle of the Barasoain Church amid flooding.
The event unfolded during Tropical Storm “Crising” or “Wipha ”which struck the Philippines in July 2025.
Favila, who obtained his journalism degree from UST in 1996, has been working for the New York-based news agency Associated Press for over two decades, covering events spanning politics, crime, disasters, among others.
The 2026 World Press Photo Contest drew over 57,376 entries submitted from 3,747 photographers across 141 countries.
Entries were grouped into six regions, namely: Asia-Pacific and Oceania; Africa; Europe; North and Central America; South America; and West, Central, and South Asia, each with its own jury and chair.
The process for judging involved multiple elimination rounds from January to February 2026.
