The $10,000 eye-opening shot

They say images say a thousand words. But there are some that say much more. Take for instance, the banner held by the woman in this photograph.

Taken in the midst of civil unrest in Myanmar, it shows an armed soldier training his gun at a wounded Japanese video-journalist lying on the road. The photograph, shot by Pakistani-born Bangkok-based photographer Adrees Latif, is the winner of the 2008 Pulitzer in Breaking News.

The photograph was an eye-opener for the world. It showed the ruthlessness with which Myanmar's military junta was quelling anti-government protests.

Also nominated as finalists in Breaking News category, which carried a prize of $10,000, were Mahmud Hams of Agence France-Presse for his picture of a missile, caught in mid-air, as it falls on a target in the Gaza Strip while young Palestinians scramble for safety, and the Los Angeles Times staff for its powerful and often unpredictable photos that captured wildfires devastating California.

Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images