Mikko Takkunen, Photo Editor, International, The New York Times
’s International desk is doing an ambitious project about Africa’s youth boom, which is based on the statistic that Africa has the fastest-growing, youngest population of any continent. By 2050, one in four people on the planet will be African, causing this seismic change, which is already starting to register. The opening piece was written by the chief Africa correspondent for the , Declan Walsh, and we assigned Paris-based Filipina photographer Hannah Reyes Morales to take the photographs. She made four trips to five countries in different parts of the continent. This photograph, showing university students playing on the Yoff Beach in Dakar, Senegal, in March of 2023, ran at the top of the story online and on the cover of the 40-page special print section. I think the image does a great job at capturing the youthful energy which is at the centre of the story. It has beautiful light and colour palette, and the way the students are composed is strikingly layered.
