Jean-François Leroy launched Visa Pour l’Image, the international photojournalism festival, in Perpignan in 1989. Before heading up the festival, Leroy was shooting reportage for the agency Sipa Press and also working for Photo-Reporter, Le Photographe, Photo-Revue and Photo Magazine. He is the chairman of the company Images Evidence. Photo: 2008 Visa d'or Feature: Brent Stirton. Conservation Rangers from an Anti-Poaching unit work with locals to evacuate the bodies of four Mountain Gorrillas killed in mysterious circumstances in the park, July 24, 2007, Virunga National Park, Eastern Congo. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Exclusive by Getty Images)

From house breaking in Johannesburg to hippos on the loose in Tbilisi to rioters attacking a policewoman in Burundi, Reuters photographers tell the story behind some of the most iconic pictures of the year. Here: Protesters drag a female police officer accused of shooting a protester in the Buterere neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, May 12, 2015. Goran Tomasevic: Protesters started throwing stones at a group of police, who then started to run away. The policewoman in the photo, Medikintos Inabeza, 33, got left behind and then some protesters started to push her, saying that she had shot a female protestor in the stomach with an AK47 rifle. I didn't see anything of that. There were 5 or 10 protesters pushing the policewoman at first, then others came and joined in. Up to 20 or 30 protesters were surrounding her at one point. The protesters kicked and beat her very badly; I also saw a couple of knives. I thought they were going to kill her... (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Filipino mermaid swimming teacher Genevieve Reyes (C) has her tail adjusted by students during a lesson by the Philippines Mermaid Swimming Academy in a private swimming pool in Makati, Manila, Philippines, 15 June 2013. The Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy (PMSA) was created in 2012 in Boracay by Normeth Preglo of The Philippines and US swimming instructor Djuna Rocha. The swimming lessons were brought to Manila in April 2013. The price for a two-hour class is 37 US dollars. (Photo by Dennis M. Sabangan/EPA)

2016 Rio Olympics, Athletics, Final, Women's 200m Final, Olympic Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 17, 2016. Photographers take pictures of Elaine Thompson (JAM) of Jamaica after she won the gold. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

Minnie Mouse, left, and Katy Perry attend a ceremony honoring Minnie with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, January 22, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

A girl with face pantings (C) looks on during a demonstration to mark al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, after Friday prayers, in Kuala Lumpur on April 14, 2023. (Photo by Mohd Rasfan/AFP Photo)

An Afghan policeman frisks a man while a burqa-cald woman sits in the trunk of a car on a roadside in Herat, Afghanistan, 05 July 2015. At least 18 police, two civilians and 30 rebels were killed in central Afghanistan during three days of fierce fighting, police said on 04 July. The clashes ended 04 July after security forces retook control of nine police checkpoints that had fallen to the rebels. (Photo by Jalil Rezayee/EPA)

Taylor Swift performs “All Too Well” at the 56th annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision)