At the award cerenomy (Source: Facebook of Nick Ut) Hanoi (VNA) - Former Associated Press photographer Nick Ut, who took thefamous ‘napalm girl’ photo, received the National Medal of Arts at the White Houseon January 13 for his decades of contributions to wartime photojournalism.
Theaward is the highest honour given to artists and arts patrons by the USgovernment. It is awarded by the US President to individuals or groups who aredeserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributionsto the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the country.
Ut,born in 1951 in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta province of Long An, currently lives inthe US.
Thephotographer is known best for his iconic “Terror of War” pictures from the warin Vietnam that helped heighten awareness of the conflict. The shocking photo,often dubbed ‘napalm girl’, was captured in 1972, depicting Phan Thi Kim Phuc, a nine-year-oldgirl running naked along the road crying from burns inflicted by a napalm bombdropped by the US in the southern province of Tay Ninh. It won a Pulitzer Prizein 1973.
The photo shocked the world when it was sent four hours later by the AP officein Sai Gon to AP headquarters in New York, igniting an anti-American warmovement in the US and Europe. It also changed Phuc’s life. As a war victim,she has travelled around the world to talk about the American war in Vietnam asa UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador./.
VNA
