SUR photographer Salvador Salas has been awarded the Premio Andalucía de Periodismo (Andalucía Journalism Prize) in the photography category, it was announced on Friday.

The award was given for a photograph taken during the floods of 2018. The image, titled 'The Night Became Day', shows a moment during the night when divers were making sure there was no one trapped in a submerged vehicle on a flooded road.

It was dark and so it was going to be difficult to capture the moment on camera, however when lightning lit the scene for just two seconds Salas seized his opportunity.

According to the panel of judges, Salas managed to capture "in one image the difficult moments suffered by thousands of people, who saw how the water destroyed their homes and their belongings. It also shows the solidarity, the dedication and the implication of the rescue teams, who worked day and night to rescue and help the victims, to such an extent that one firefighter lost his life."

The photographer said he was happy to have been awarded the prize, especially as it is now a year since the unexpected death of his colleague and SUR photo editor, Fernando González, "whom we all miss in the newsroom and to whom I want to dedicate this award".

The Premio Andalucía de Periodismo in other categories goes to Chema Rodríguez (press) for his report in the Crónica supplement of the newspaper El Mundo on the raid on a hospital by a group of hooded men to rescue a well-known drug dealer; to Mercedes Díaz of Cadena Ser (radio) for her series of five episodes on the Marta de Castillo case; to the Canal Sur programme Tierra y Mar (television); and in the internet category to Julia García Gil-Toresano por Valentingarcia.com, a blog started by her late father, the journalist Valentín García, after he was diagnosed with cancer.