Kate Geraghty has been named the winner of the 2024 Nikon Photo of the Year Prize in this year’s Walkley Awards for her image titled, ‘Funeral at Al-Aqsa’.


Funeral at Al-Aqsa: Palestinian mourners carrying a coffin are stopped momentarily by an Israeli police officer before entering the Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem. 27 October, 2023. Photo: Kate Geraghty.

The Nikon Photo of the Year is chosen from all the images entered for the Walkley photographic categories. The 2024 Walkley Photography Judges said Kate Geraghty’s photo of Palestinian mourners being stopped by an Israeli official at the Al Aqsa mosque felt so emblematic of a frozen moment in the stand-off between two states, it had to be their Photo Of The Year.  ‘No single image can capture the nuance of an entire story, but it can encapsulate in a moment a more complex story or issue. Kate Geraghty anticipated the moment, bearing witness with technical skill, exemplary composition and empathy. Even though this was a temporary impasse, and the funeral procession moved on, this moment indicates the stalemate of the past year’s conflict.’

The Walkley Awards for Excellence in Photojournalism recognise the work of photographers across a range of genres, from news and sport to portraiture and photographic essays. These images let us reflect on the year in news, through the individual worldviews and skilled lenses of Australia’s best photographers. All images from the two prize-winners and all finalists in the Walkley Awards for Excellence in Photojournalism will be on display at the State Library of NSW from 23 November, 2024 as the Nikon-Walkley Press Photography Exhibition.

Click here to view hero images from all the 2024 finalists and Nikon Prize winners.