Spanish has once again won a World Press Photo, this time with a piece on this iconic species, «a rock star of biodiversity.» 

In 2017, Madrid-born Jaime Rojo, 42, won the World Press Photo award with a striking image of a snow–covered ground strewn with lifeless monarch butterflies following a storm at the El Rosario sanctuary in Michoacán, Mexico. The same year, he was recognized at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year for another snapshot featuring trees festooned with these orange-winged lepidopterans in the Mexican forests where they take refuge in winter. Now, in 2024, he has won the Pictures of the Year and has once again claimed the World Press Photo (regional category) award with an extensive report in National Geographic on these butterflies. Few photographers in the world boast such a collection of awards, and it’s even more extraordinary that he has won them all with images of the same insect. After nearly 20 years tracking the orange wings, first in Mexico and then in North America, this Madrid native has become the photographer of the monarch butterfly, which he describes as «a rock star of biodiversity«.