Each month, The Associated Press management honors photographers for outstanding photo coverage while on assignment.
The winners for the May 2015 AP Staff Photo Contest are Paul Cheung, Joseph Kaczmarek, Patrick Semansky and Matt Slocum in news photography for “Amtrak Crash”, Rodrigo Abd in feature photography for “Cocaine Backpackers” and Thibault Camus, Christophe Ena and David Vincent in sports photography for “The French Open.”
Congratulations to all the photographers for their outstanding work. This month’s winning images are featured below.
News Photography | Amtrak Crash by Paul Cheung, Joseph Kaczmarek, Patrick Semansky and Matt Slocum
An Amtrak train crashed Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. Train 188 was traveling from Washington to New York City. (AP Photo/Paul Cheung)
Emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly Amtrak train derailment, Wednesday, May 13, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, center right, hugs Lori Dee Patterson, a nearby resident, after she handed him a cup of coffee after he spoke at a news conference near the scene of a deadly Amtrak train derailment, Wednesday, May 13, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Emergency personnel work the scene of an Amtrak train wreck in Philadelphia, May 12, 2015. (AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek)
Emergency personnel work the scene of a deadly Amtrak train wreck, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek)
Emergency personnel help a passenger at the scene of an Amtrak train wreck, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek)
Emergency personnel work the scene of an Amtrak train wreck, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek)
Emergency personnel work the scene of an Amtrak train wreck, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek)
Emergency personnel work the scene of an Amtrak train wreck, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek)
Emergency personnel help a passenger at the scene of an Amtrak train wreck, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek)
A crime scene investigator looks inside a train car after an Amtrak train wreck, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek)
Feature Photography | Cocaine Backpackers by Rodrigo Abd
In this March 15, 2015 photo, Julio Galvez and his wife Rufina Miguel, pose for a picture holding a portrait of their late son Yuri Galvez, outside their home, in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. The 25-year-old university student had gotten his father’s permission to haul coca in a backpack to pay for his agronomy studies, his mother said. Yuri was found face-up on a mountain trail, with bullet wounds to his head, stomach and arm, in a March 2013 cocaine smuggling trip. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this March 13, 2015 photo, Yohan, 4, from left, Cristian, 7, and Angelo, 6, playfully toss coca leaves into the air, singing: “I have a lot of money, look at all the money I have,” in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. Hauling cocaine out of the remote valley is about the only way to earn decent cash in this economically depressed region where a farmhand earns less than $10 a day. Beyond extinguishing young lives, the practice has packed Peru’s highland prisons with cocaine backpackers while their bosses evade incarceration. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this March 14, 2015 photo, Mardonio Borda, 19, poses a picture during an interview with The Associated Press, in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. A native Quechua with broken Spanish and a sixth-grade education, Borda is among untold hundreds of cocaine backpackers who make the difficult and dangerous trek up Andean mountain paths first carved by their pre-Incan ancestors. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this March 13, 2015 photo, coca farmer Alfredo Mosco, 44, right, instructs his young employee Donato Mosco, during the weeding of a coca field, in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. Hauling cocaine out of the remote valley is about the only way to earn decent cash in this economically depressed region where a farmhand earns less than $10 a day. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this March 15, 2015 photo, Rufina Miguel plucks a chicken in preparation for a special dinner to mark the second anniversary of her son’s death, in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. Yuri, a cocaine backpacker, always checked in by phone she said. So when he didn’t call after a March 2013 smuggling trip, his mother turned to reading coca leaves to try to divine his fate, tossing them on her skirt as is customary. “The leaves fell spine-up, a bad sign,” she said. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this March 16, 2015 photo, Janet Curo, 9, takes a break from harvesting coca leaves with her mother, in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. Janet skipped school to help her mother in the coca fields. Sixty percent of Peru’s cocaine is grown in the remote Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro river valley that includes the Ayacucho province. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this March 15, 2015 photo, steaming bowls of chicken soup on a table set for a special meal marking the second death anniversary of cocaine backpacker Yuri Galvez, in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. Galvez, 25, was found dead two years to the date, while taking part in a cocaine smuggling trip with other backpackers. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this March 16, 2015 photo, a young man dances under a heavy rain during Peruvian Huayno singer Ely Corazon’s concert, in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. The average cocaine backpacker or mochilero is surprisingly normal, says sociologist Laura Barrenechea. Few are troublemakers or social misfits. Typically, they are recruited by relatives and friends – often at festivities where liquor flows. They tend not to tell their parents, who nearly always disapprove. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this March 15, 2015 photo, Nanda la Dulce performs Huayno music during a soccer tournament between villages, in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this March 15, 2015 photo, Fortunato Farfan, laughs while posing for the picture in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. Fortunato’s is wearing a T-shirt with a phrase that reads in Spanish: “No to coca eradication in the Vraem”. Not a single fully paved road rises out of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantauro river valley (VRAEM), from which cocaine also departs via small plane to neighboring Bolivia. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this March 15, 2015 photo, young men compete in a multi-village soccer tournament, in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. A hardy lot, cocaine backpackers are mostly native Quechua speakers and hail from the isolated communities that suffered the worst atrocities of Peru’s 1980-2000 dirty war with Shining Path rebels. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
In this March 16, 2015 photo, Jhorlis Huallpa, 17, carries tarpaulins to dry coca leaves after their harvest in La Mar, province of Ayacucho, Peru. Peru’s cocaine trade is highly decentralized, run by scores of “firms” of extended families. The backpackers they hire move in groups as small as four and as large as 70, say police, backpackers and local officials. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Sports Photography | The French Open by Thibault Camus, Christophe Ena and David Vincent
France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga celebrates winning his fourth round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in four sets 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, at the Roland Garros stadium, Paris, France, Sunday, May 31, 2015. (AP Photo/David Vincent)
The wind pulls at the umbrella of a spectator as weather conditions suspended the fourth round match between France’s Alize Cornet and Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros stadium, Paris, France, Sunday, May 31, 2015. (AP Photo/David Vincent)
Britain’s Andy Murray serves the ball to Argentina’s Facundo Arguello during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Monday, May 25, 2015, Paris, France. Murray won 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. (AP Photo/David Vincent)
Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic returns the ball to Serena Williams of the U.S. during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Tuesday, May 26, 2015, Paris, France. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland serves in the third round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Madison Keys of the U.S. at the Roland Garros stadium, Paris, France, Saturday, May 30, 2015. Bacsinszky won in two sets 6-4, 6-2. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic returns the ball to France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during their fourth round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Sunday, May 31, 2015 in Paris, France. (AP Photo/David Vincent)
Japan’s Kei Nishikori returns in the first round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Paul-Henri Mathieu of France at the Roland Garros stadium, Paris, France, Sunday, May 24, 2015. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
France’s Alize Cornet celebrates winning her third round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, at the Roland Garros stadium, Paris, France, Friday, May 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A security officer watches through a hole in the door for a break between games to let photographers into the stadium as Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic plays in the first round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan at the Roland Garros stadium, Paris, France, Sunday, May 24, 2015. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Britain’s Andy Murray returns in the first round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Argentina’s Facundo Arguello at the Roland Garros stadium, Paris, France, Monday, May 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Spotlight is the blog of AP Images, the world’s largest collection of historical and contemporary photos. AP Images provides instant access to AP’s iconic photos and adds new content every minute of every day from every corner of the world, making it an essential source of photos and graphics for professional image buyers and commercial customers. Whether your needs are for editorial, commercial, or personal use, AP Images has the content and the expert sales team to fulfill your image requirements. Visit apimages.com to learn more.
Written content on this site is not created by the editorial department of AP, unless otherwise noted.
AP Images on Twitter | AP Images on Facebook | AP Images on Instagram
AP Images Blog 
Reblogged this on shortstoree and commented:
Hero’s
LikeLike