Bieber has previously won eight World Press Photo awards and is only the second South African photographer to win the highest honour in the contest.
Michiel Munneke, the director of World Press Photo, opened the proceedings by making reference to the importance of photojournalism in the world today and paying tribute to those photographers over the past year who have paid with their lives to bring us the stories we so often take for granted, as well as to those who are in captivity for their work, including SA photographer Anton Hammerl, who has now been missing for 35 days as of today, Monday, 9 May 2011.
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