Taiwan News-Corbis Sygma/ David Smith

A dramatic picture of rescue workers helping a Taiwanese earthquake victim that was taken by a Western Kentucky University photojournalism graduate has won second-place honors in the World Press Photo of the Year competition. The photograph by Western graduate David Smith for U.S. News & World Report, was taken Sept. 22 in Taipei, where Smith was working for Taiwan News/Corbis Sygma. The award was in the general news category. Smith is director of photography at the Taiwan News, which is the only English-speaking newspaper in Taipei. The Canada native said he was in disbelief at the devastation caused by the earthquake and he couldnt believe how peoples spirits stayed so high during such a time of tragedy. The top honor went to Danish photographer Claus Bjorn Larsen for a piercing black-and-white image of a wounded Kosovar Albanian refugee. The picture was taken at a refugee camp in Kukes, Albania, on April 5 as masses of ethnic Albanians were fleeing the Yugoslav army crackdown in Kosovo during a NATO bombing campaign. Judges received a total of 42,215 entries from 3,981 photographers in 122 countries. The annual contest is sponsored by the non-profit World Press Foundation, based in the Dutch capital.