While the Wall Street Journal announced the sale of Getty images for nearly 4 billion dollars as it allegedly inches closer to the low-cost image bank Fotolia, for the second consecutive year, a Getty photojournalist, Sebastian Liste, has received the coveted Prix Rémi Ochlik de la ville de Perpignan, formerly known as the Prix Jeune Reporter de la ville de Perpignan.

Liste received the prize for his project Urban Quilombo, which shows life in Galpao da Araujo Barreto, an abandoned chocolate factory in Salvador de Bahia in Brazil. One hundred and thirty homeless families lived there before being evicted last year by the Brazilian government. The Spanish photographer has followed this community since 2009. Last year, Ed Ou was awarded the prize for his work on child soldiers in Somalia.

“We are delighted to confirm our support for the Festival Visa Pour L’Image for the fifth year in a row,” declared Getty’s Vice President of photo assignments, Aidan Sullivan, in a press release. “Supporting photojournalism is particularly important for Getty Images, and we have always felt that this festival has played a key role in the development of this discipline,” Sullivan added, as if to drive the nail a little deeper into his colleague at Corbis—who opted not to advertise his presence at this year’s festival—and dispel the rumors of dealings with Fotolia.

Jean-François Leroy, Director of the Visa Pour L’Image festival, says in the same statement: “Getty once again demonstrates its support and commitment to photojournalism. Like Getty Images Grants for Editorial, the company will sponsor the new edition of the Visa Pour L’Image festival, and we are very pleased to have such a partner by our side.”

When asked on the train station platform his thoughts on the recent reports, the “boss” of Visa Pour L’Image claimed that, “The information published in the Wall Street Journal has not been confirmed. If it were the case, I would be sorry to hear it.”

One thing seems certain: this year Visa Pour L’Image will see several important announcements with respect to Getty, but also with Sipa News and the AFP... Looks like this is going to be one hot autumn.