The photos that won the World Press Photo

The winners of the 66th edition of the World Press Photo, one of the most prestigious photojournalism competitions in the world, have been announced. There are four main prizes: the World Press Photo of the Yearfor best single photo, won by Mohammed Salem for the title photo A Palestinian Woman Embraces the Body of Her Niece; The World Press Photo Story of the Yearfor best story, won by Lee-Ann Olwage for Valim-babena; The World Press Photo Long-Term Project Awardfor best long-term project, won by Alejandro Cegarra for The Two Walls; and the World Press Photo Open Format Awardfor the best Open Format project, won by Julia Kochetova for War Is Personal. The four winners announced today were chosen from the regional winners that were announced two weeks ago.

World Press Photo of the Year

The photo of the Palestinian photographer Mohammed Salem, who works for the agency Reuters, shows a 36-year-old Palestinian woman, Inas Abu Maamar, hugging the body of her granddaughter Saly (5), who was killed in October in an Israeli attack on the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, in the Gaza Strip. He himself described the image, taken a few days after his wife gave birth, as a “powerful and sad moment that sums up the broader meaning of what was happening in the Gaza Strip.” The jury commented that the image has the merit of having been composed with care and respect, “offering at the same time a metaphorical and literal look at an unimaginable loss”. Probably for these reasons it was one of the most viewed photos of the conflict, earning a certain amount of attention already in the days following its publication.

Fiona Shields, Global Jury Chair and Head of Photography at Guardiansaid that in general “all the winning images have the power to convey a specific moment, but also resonate beyond the subject and time”, but the Salem photo in particular.

World Press Photo Story of the Year

Valim-babena is a Malagasy word that describes the principle that children have a duty to help their parents. In the series to which she gave this name, the South African photographer Lee-Ann Olwage told the story GEO a story related to senile dementia: the lack of public awareness about the disease means that people who show symptoms of memory loss are often stigmatized. According to the jury, the story «addresses a universal health problem through the lens of family and care and the selection of images is composed with warmth and tenderness, reminding viewers of the love and closeness necessary in a time of war and aggression in Worldwide”.

World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award

A person walks on a freight train known as “La Bestia”, Piedras Negras, Mexico, October 8, 2023. © Alejandro Cegarra, The New York Times/Bloomberg World Press Photo

Since 2018 the Venezuelan photographer Alejandro Cegarra has dedicated himself to The Two Wallsa project on migratory flows on the Mexican border, after having himself undertaken the journey from Venezuela to the country as a migrant in 2017.

In his photos we see migrants who, not having the financial resources to pay a trafficker, resort to using freight trains to reach the United States border, crossing the Suchiate River from Guatemala to Mexico, or trying to climb over the separation barrier between United States and Mexico. In selecting him as the winner in his category, the jury felt that his experience as a migrant offered a sensitive perspective that highlighted the point of view of migrant people.

World Press Photo Open Format Award

War Is Personal © Julia Kochetova, World Press Photo

Ukrainian photographer Julia Kochetova has created a site that combines photojournalism and the documentary style of a personal diary, to show what it means to live with the Russian war in Ukraine as an everyday reality. To do so she used images, poems, audio clips and music, offering an intimate and personal perspective on the war.

Speaking about the images awarded in this year’s edition, the executive director of World Press Photo, Joumana El Zein Khoury, underlined the fact that each of the winning photographers knows their themes intimately and personally, thus helping to arrive at a deeper understanding profound, which he hopes will lead to “empathy and compassion”.

Both she and Shields praised the work of photojournalists around the world, who often carry out their work in very risky conditions, calling for recognition of the “trauma they experience to show the world the humanitarian impact of war”.

– Read also: The regional winners of the World Press Photo

The competition is divided into six geographical areas, which are further divided into four categories based on the image format. The six geographic regions are: Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America, South America, Southeast Asia and Oceania. In each geographic region you can compete in four categories based on image format, which then correspond to the global winners announced today. Here you will find the gallery with the regional winners and a fifth category, the Honorable Mention, for works that according to the organization deserved recognition.