In the past few years, the World Press Photo selections have been surrounded with a fair bit of controversy. Even as the contest has continued to evolve and change, the caliber of the work remains unwavering. The honorees include a breadth of work from hard-working photographers across the globe, encompassing a wide range of topics.
This year’s top honoree is photographer Warren Richardson whose image of a man passing a baby across the Hungarian-Serbian order through a coil of razor wire fencing. The shot—lit only with moonlight—wears its grain and blur with pride as testaments to the truly harrowing conditions under which is was captured.
Spot News 2nd Prize, Singles
Demonstration against terrorism in Paris, after a series of five attacks occurred across the Île-de-France region, beginning at the headquarters for satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Paris, France, 11 January 2015.
Spot News, 3rd Prize Singles
The body of a victim killed in gang-related violence. This is the fourth gang- related killing on the same street in one night. Police have no witnesses. San Pedro Sula, March 4, 2015.
Spot News, 1st Prize Stories
Smoke rises from a building following reported shelling by Syrian government forces in Douma, Syria, October 30, 2015.
Spot News, 2nd Prize Stories
A wall of rock, snow and debris roars toward Everest Base Camp, Nepal, April 25, 2015.
Spot News, 3rd Prize Stories
A refugee man holds a young girl as others climb over broken-down border fences to enter Turkish territory; Sanliurfa, Turkey, June 14, 2015.
Contemporary Issues 1st Prize, Singles
A city in northern China shrouded in haze, Tianjin, China, December 10, 2015.
Contemporary Issues 2nd Prize, Singles
Adam Abdel, 7, was severely burned after a bomb was dropped by a Sudanese government Antonov plane next to his family home in Burgu, Central Darfur, Sudan. February 27, 2015.
Contemporary Issues 3rd Prize, Singles
Lamon Reccord stares down a police sergeant during a protest following the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald by police in Chicago, Illinois, USA, November 25, 2015.
Contemporary Issues 1st Prize, Stories
Former talibes cool off at SOS Talibe Centre in Bafata, Guinea-Bissau, where they are now taken care of by a charity. June 8, 2015.
Contemporary Issues 2nd Prize, Stories
Migrants rescued off the Libyan coast gather on the deck of the Doctors Without Borders rescue ship and attend a service; Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea, September 3, 2015.
Contemporary Issues 3rd Prize, Stories
Kate often kept Emily company while she took baths. Late in the pregnancy, particularly once Emily was overdue, she said that baths were one of the easiest ways to relax her body. Kate, who became pregnant three weeks later than Emily, showed less, and the two would often compare their baby bumps and talk to each other’s bellies. Maplewood, New Jersey, USA, November 29, 2015.
Daily Life 1st Prize, Singles
Chinese men pull a tricycle in a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China, on November 26, 2015.
Daily Life 2nd Prize, Singles
Indigenous Munduruku children play in the Tapajos river in the tribal area of Sawre Muybu, Itaituba, Brazil on February 10, 2015.
Daily Life 3rd Prize, Singles
Raheleh, who was born blind, stands behind the window in the morning. She likes the warmness of the sunlight on her face. Babol, Mazandaran, Iran, November 12, 2015.
Daily Life 1st Prize, Stories
A member of a German research team counts the number of penguin species and pairs as part of ongoing research on bird and penguin species in Antarctica; Fildes Bay, Antarctica, December 7, 2015.
Daily Life 2nd Prize, Stories
Tibetan Buddhist nuns stand following a chanting session in Sertar county, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, China, October 30, 2015.
Daily Life 3rd Prize, Stories
The leader of the Papo Reto collective receives an image of a 22-year-old taxi driver who was shot dead by a police officer; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 8, 2015.
General News 1st Prize, Singles
A doctor rubs ointment on the burns of a 16-year-old Islamic State fighter named Jacob in front of a poster of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, at a Y.P.G. hospital compound on the outskirts of Hasaka, Syria on August 1, 2015.
General News 2nd Prize, Singles
Refugees travel in darkness through Europe to avoid detection; Lesbos, Greece, December 6, 2015.
General News 3rd Prize, Singles
Aerial view of the destruction after the explosion in Tianjin, China, August 15, 2015.
General News 1st Prize, Stories
Refugees arrive by boat near the village of Skala on Lesbos, Greece, November 16, 2015.
General News 2nd Prize, Stories
A Syrian man carries the body of a child, killed in an airstrike by government forces in Douma, Syria, November 7, 2015.
General News 3rd Prize, Stories
Residents forage through their destroyed homes, gathering salvageable belongings. Bhaktapur, Nepal, April 29, 2015.
Long Term Projects 1st Prize
Connie Sue Foss went to sleep after a Christmas party at her National Guard unit. When she awoke, she was tied down and a fellow guardsman had his hands around her throat as he raped her. “Don’t bother screaming, there’s only me in the building,” he said. She retreats into her own thoughts while her daughter hovers near the bathroom door of their apartment in Spring Hill, Florida, January 5, 2014. From: “Sexual Assault in America’s Military”
Long Term Projects 2nd Prize
Howie and Laurel Borowick sit next to the bathroom telephone as they receive the most recent news from their oncologist. New York, US, March 8, 2013. From: “A Life in Death”
Long Term Projects 3rd Prize
Senior military members approach an area where new North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and other military and political leaders stand before commemorating the 70th birthday of the late Kim Jong Il at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 16, 2012. From: ”North Korea: Life in the Cult of Kim”
People 1st Prize, Singles
A child is covered with a raincoat while she waits in line to register at a refugee camp in Preševo, Serbia, October 7, 2015.
People 2nd Prize, Singles
A mine worker takes a smoke break before going back into the pit. Miners in Bani face harsh conditions and exposure to toxic chemicals and heavy metals. Image taken in Bani, Burkina Faso, on November 20, 2015.
People 3rd Prize, Singles
Portrait of a Syrian refugee family in a camp in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on December 15, 2015. The empty chair in the photograph represents a family member who has either died in the war or whose whereabouts are unknown.
People 1st Prize, Stories
“I was born just five months after the day of the explosion. I was a very sickly child and I remember feeling like something was wrong, not growing like a normal child. When I was born I was quickly admitted into the intensive care unit. I had cramps and I was very weak. Half of my childhood, I spent in hospital without receiving a diagnosis. I was treated for bronchitis, then pneumonia, and then neuroses,” Slavutych, Ukraine, July 15, 2015.
People 2nd Prize, Stories
Young girls between the age of 7 and 11 are chosen every year as ‘Maya’ for the ‘Las Mayas’, a festival derived from pagan rites celebrating the arrival of spring, in the town of Colmenar Viejo, Spain. The girls are required to sit still for a couple of hours in a decorated altar.
Sports 1st Prize, Singles
Czech Republic’s Ondrej Bank crashes during the downhill race of the Alpine Combined at the FIS World Championships in Beaver Creek, Colorado, USA, on 15 February 2015.
Sports 2nd Prize, Singles
During the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 2015 Mens Basketball Tournament game with Wichita State vs. Indiana, Ron Baker shoots over Nick Zeisloft whilst Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Rashard Kelly battle for position at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, on March 20, 2015.
Sports 3rd Prize, Singles
Members of the Neptun Synchro synchronized swimming team perform during a Christmas show in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 13, 2015.
Sports 1st Prize, Stories
The match between junior teams from Vetluga and village Sharanga in Vetluga, Russia, February 19, 2015.
Sports 2nd Prize, Stories
Kherou, a young wrestling champion, performs a ritual in the water of the sea while pouring milk over his body in order to obtain the reinforcement of a ghost who lives in the stones at the shore. Dakar, Sierra Leone, August 11, 2015.
Sports 3rd Prize, Stories
Erison Turây walks to the football pitch to practice with the Ebola Survivors Soccer Club. Kenema, Sierra Leone, April 21, 2015.
Nature 1st Prize, Singles
A massive ‘cloud tsunami’ looms over Sydney as a sunbather reads, oblivious to the approaching cloud on Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia on November 6, 2015.
Nature 2nd Prize, Singles
Divers observe and surround a humpback whale and her newborn calf whilst they swim around Roca Partida in the Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico, January 28, 2015.
Nature 3rd Prize, Singles
Colima Volcano in Mexico shows a powerful night explosion with lightning, ballistic projectiles and incandescent rockfalls; image taken in the Comala municipality in Colima, Mexico, December 13, 2015.
Nature 1st Prize, Stories
A veterinarian from International Animal Rescue carries a Bornean orangutan baby from a house where it was kept illegally as a pet in the village of Sungai Besar, West Kalimantan Province, Indonesia, July 27, 2015.
Nature 2nd Prize, Stories
A container filled with tons of illegal ivory. Togo is seen as a new opportunity by ivory smugglers with its new deep water port. Yet, customs officers with new container scanning technology have made the efforts of these smugglers more difficult. Lome, Togo, January 29, 2014.
Nature 3rd Prize, Stories
A Furcifer ambrensis female foraging for insects with extendable tongue; Montain d’Ambre, Madagascar, November 29, 2014
