Shani Louk’s father says it’s “good” that shocking picture of her body won prize

22-year-old German-Israeli Shani Louk was murdered at the Nova festival on October 7.[Missing Credit]

The Pictures of the Year award, run by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism includes a category which recognises “the collaborative effort of a photography staff covering a single topic or news story.” First place was awarded to a selection of 20 photos from the Israel-Hamas war taken by Associated Press (AP) photographers.

Nissim Leuk said: “These are some of the photos that shape human memory, the Jew raising his hands, the paratroopers at the Western Wall, photos that symbolise an era.

"This documentation of Shani, and of Noa Argamani on the motorcycle, they symbolise this era. I think it's a good thing to use it to inform the future.

“If I start crying, what will come of it? This is history. In 100 years they will look and know what happened here. I travel the world and everyone knows who Shani is,” he told Ynet.
But Shani’s friend Shani Cohen disagreed, saying the award was “unethical.” 
'We took it very personally. Some cried. We shared it immediately as we saw it,” she told Mailonline “To see something like this is beyond ridiculous and beyond antisemitic.

“A picture like this should be only for army needs and should be locked in some kind of private gallery. It's not supposed to be something for society to even see.”

A petition calling on the award’s sponsors Nikon to denounce the award to AP has been signed by more than 22,000 people.