AKIPRESS.COM - Agence France-Presse photographer Ronaldo Schemidt won the prestigious 2018 World Press Photo of the Year Award on April 12 with a fiery image of a masked Venezuelan protester which judges said symbolised a country "burning", AFP reported.

Schemidt's photo, taken during violent clashes with riot police and protesters demonstrating against President Nicolas Maduro's regime in Caracas last year, invoked an instant emotion, the judges said.

AFP also scooped other awards, with London-based stringer Oliver Scarff taking first prize in the Sports-Singles category and Caracas-based AFP photographer Juan Barreto coming third in the Spot News-Stories category.

Mexico-based Schemidt was covering the demonstrations for AFP in May 2017 when the then 28-year-old Victor Salazar went up in flames as he and other protestors were trying to destroy a police motorbike and the gas tank exploded in his face.

Salazar survived the incident with first and second-degree burns, the competition's organisers said.