The Stockholm Mean Machines

Sports Action, third prize stories

7/6/2009

The Stockholm Mean Machines suffer defeat at the hands of the Carlstad Crusaders in their first game of the year on 7 June. The Stockholm Mean Machines, founded in 1984, is Sweden's oldest American football team. All team members are unpaid amateurs, except for an American professional quarterback, Aries Nelson.

Commissioned by: Aftonbladet

Location: Bosön, Sweden

Photo Credit: Magnus Wennman

Born in Sweden in 1979, Magnus Wennman has been working as a photojournalist since the age of 17 when he started his career with a local Swedish newspaper, DalaDemokraten.

Since 2001 he has worked as a staff photographer on Scandinavia’s biggest daily paper, Aftonbladet.

Magnus concentrates mainly on news and feature stories and has worked in more than 60 countries around the world. He has covered a number of stories including the 2008 US presidential elections, the Red Shirt protests in Thailand, and the plight of refugees in Africa, Middle East and Europe.

He has won prestigious photo awards, both in Sweden and internationally, including four World Press Photo awards, 16 Picture of the Year international awards, 11 NPPAs Best of Journalism awards, and 47 Swedish Picture of the Year awards. He has been awarded "Photojournalist of the year" in Sweden four times.