Awards

The series of photographs illustrates the catastrophic floods in Europe in July 2021 that killed 190 people in Europe, 160 of them in Germany.

"I had already photographed floods, including those in Dresden in 2002, but nothing of this magnitude, it was unbelievable. Throughout my reportage, what struck me the most is that all the people I was in direct contact with had kept their optimism. I was also surprised by the fact that you could feel a lot of solidarity between the people", said Christof Stache.

One of the photos from the award-winning series was featured as Photo of the Week by L'Obs.

The Rückblende is the German prize for political photography and caricature, and the only one of its kind in Germany.

Born in 1966 in Suhl, Germany, Christof Stache began his career as an intern editor for the local newspaper "Freies Wort". After military service and the fall of the Berlin Wall, he joined the editorial staff of the "Thüringische Landeszeitung", first in the local editorial offices in Suhl and Meiningen, and then, from 1992, as a photographer at the main office in Weimar. From 1994 he worked as a freelance photographer for AP in Magdeburg, then in Hamburg from 1995 to 2005, and finally in Munich from 2006 to 2010.  Since 2010 he has been a photographer for AFP in Munich. He mainly covers Bavaria but is also called upon to travel to other regions and countries, such as during the floods in the Ruhr, and in Berlin and Austria. He has also covered major sporting events including football championships and the Winter Olympics in Korea.