On Saturday, Spanish photojournalist Luis Tato, covering East Africa and the Indian Ocean for AFP, received in Perpignan the Visa d’or News, the highest distinction of the Visa pour l’image festival, recognizing his work on the uprising of the Malagasy Generation Z in 2025.
By winning his prize, he paid a strong tribute to the founder of the festival, Jean-François Leroy, who died on Monday, who had “given him a chance” by presenting for the first time his images in 2018 while he “tried to carve a path” in this field. “No one has done as much for our ecosystem,” he also said.
The Generation Z, in other words the young adults under 30, was at the heart of several protests in 2025, notably in Nepal, Bangladesh, Bulgaria and therefore Madagascar, the large island in the Indian Ocean where significant demonstrations, which began on September 25 and were violently repressed, led the army to topple President Andry Rajoelina in mid-October.
Luis Tato, 37, spent about ten days among the demonstrators who denounced, among other things, the failure of public services, corruption and persistent economic difficulties.
This photographer, AFP employee since 2023, thanked the young people of Madagascar, who “knew how important it was that their story be told” and to whom he expressed his “deep respect.”
Already a recipient in 2018 of the Perpignan City Rémi Ochlik Prize, which rewards young photographers, Luis Tato has also been distinguished three times by World Press Photo (2021, 2025 and 2026) and received the title of “Photographer of the Year” in 2023, awarded by the Pictures of the Year International contest.
Luis Tato holds the role of chief photographer and photo coordinator for AFP for East Africa and the Indian Ocean, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
