What makes this image striking and memorable is the absurd situation it depicts, the two worlds colliding in this one frame. One can sense the utter surprise of the tourists and the distress and exhaustion of the migrant. Rodriguez captures people's varied responses to the migrants' arrival on the beach, from the passive onlookers in the background to the more compassionate helpers trying to comfort the man in the front, but they also don't forget the threat of possible looming diseases coming from a boat refugee -- the tourists helping are all equipped with protective gloves.

Although the image is very narrative and successfully communicates the situation, photographically it is not one of the stronger photos in the World Press exhibition. The framing seems a little accidental with the cut off figures on the right and at the top of the image the details in the migrant's face are lost.

Awarding this image clearly puts the emphasis on content rather than visual merits.

We are often seduced by style; what the image narrates becomes secondary. It is a dangerous trend we are currently finding in photojournalism, so the World Press is obviously trying to counterbalance the trend in choosing this image.

It is also interesting to observe how some stories reappear in the World Press awards: Matias Costa won 1st Prize, People in the News in 2000 with his beautifully composed black and white photograph of migrants landing by boat in Spain. He focused on the migrants arriving, whereas Arturo Rodriguez concentrated on the encounter between the tourists on the beach and the migrants. So each one is telling the story from a different angle, thus justifying what could otherwise be a seen as a repetition in the World Press Photo Awards.