2024 World Press Photo contest winners announced

MANILA, Philippines — An image of Inas Abu Maamar cradling the body of her niece Saly, who was killed along with four other family members when an Israeli missile struck their home in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 17, 2023, taken by Mohammed Salem of Reuters, was adjudged Photo of the Year.

The image was composed with care and respect, offering both a metaphorical and literal glimpse into unimaginable loss, according to the jury.

Salem describes the photo, taken just days after his own wife gave birth, as a ‘powerful and sad moment that sums up the broader sense of what was happening in the Gaza Strip’. Mohammed Salem/Reuters

More than 61,000 entries by nearly 4,000 photographers from 130 countries were judged first by six regional juries, and the winners were then chosen by a global jury consisting of the regional jury chairs plus the global jury chair.

“All of the winning images have such power to convey a specific moment, while also resonating beyond their own subject and time. This is what we were hoping to find. Our Photo of the Year truly encapsulates this sense of impact; it is incredibly moving to view and at the same time an argument for peace, which is extremely powerful when peace can sometimes feel like an unlikely fantasy,” Global jury chair Fiona Shields, the Guardian’s head of photography, said.

Story of the year

In Madagascar, lack of public awareness surrounding dementia means that people displaying symptoms of memory loss are often stigmatized. For years, Paul Rakotozandriny, “Dada Paul,” 91, who lives with dementia, has been cared for by his daughter Fara Rafaraniriana, 41.

Their story illustrates the Malagasy principle of valim-babena – the duty of grown children to help their parents. With its dignified, intimate approach, Lee-Ann Olwage’s project presents another perspective on the issue, resonating with families across the world, while at the same time challenging conflict-focused stereotypes of Africa.

Joeline ‘Fara’ Rafaraniriana watches her father, ”Dada’ Paul Rakotazandriny, clean fish at home on Sunday afternoon. Fara works during the week and – as the sole provider and carer for her daughter and father – struggles to manage all her responsibilities in the absence of assistance by her siblings who live close by. Lee-Ann Olwage for GEO

Long-term Project Award

Since 2019, Mexico’s immigration policies have undergone a significant shift, transforming from a nation historically open to migrants and asylum seekers at its southern border to a country that enforces stringent immigration policies.

Drawing from his own first-hand experience of migrating from his native Venezuela to Mexico in 2017, photographer Alejandro Cegarra initiated this project in 2018. The jury felt that this photographer’s own position as a migrant afforded a sensitive human-centered perspective that centers on the agency and resilience of migrants.

A migrant walks over a freight train known as the beast as he arrives at Piedras Negras on October 8, 2023. Alejandro Cegarra for The New York Times/Bloomberg

Open Format Award

Amid tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and an effective stalemate that has lasted for months, there are no signs of peace on the horizon for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

While news media updates its audience with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, photographer Julia Kochetova has created a website that brings together photojournalism with the personal documentary style of a diary to show the world what it is like to live with war as an everyday reality.

This project weaves together photographic images with poetry, audio clips, and music in collaboration with a Ukrainian illustrator and DJ.

The kid is setting ‘a checkpint’ in Zelene village Kharkiv region. Julia Kochetova, War is Personal

Regional Winners

South East Asia and Oceania, Stories: Battle for Sovereignty

Arnel Satam, 54, a fisherman, stands in his tiny wooden boat after being chased by the China Coast Guard in his attempt to enter the lagoon of Scarborough Shoal on September 22, 2023. Michael Varcas for The Philippine Star

Africa, Singles: Returning Home from War

Kibrom Berhane greets his mother for the first time since he joined the Tigray Defense Forces, two years earlier, in Saesie Tsada, Ethiopia on September 21, 2023. Vincent Haiges/Republik for Real 21

Asia, Stories: Afghanistan on the Edge

An Afghan couple care for their sick child in a camp for internally displaced people near Kabul, Afghanistan on February 9, 2023. Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo

Europe, Singles: A Father’s Pain

Mesut Hancer holds the hand of his 15-year-old daughter Irmak, who died in the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, close to the quake’s epicentre, the day after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country’s southeast, on February 7, 2023. Adem Altan/AFP

Europe, Stories: Kakhovka Dam: Flood in a War Zone

An overview of a flooded area of Kherson, taken from a tower block. At the time, Ukrainian authorities estimated that more than 40,000 people would need to be evacuated. Kherson, Ukraine on June 7, 2023. Johanna Maria Fritz for Die Zeit

North and Central America, Singles: A Day in the Life of a Quebec Fire Crew

Theo Dagnaud scans the horizon to ensure that firefighter patrols have left, and he can mark the area as “controlled”. Quebec, Canada on July 13, 2023. Charles-Frédérick Ouellet for the Globe and Mail and CALQ

North and Central America, Stories: Saving the Monarchs

Butterflies stream through protected indigenous fir forests in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. The mountain hillsides of oyamel forest provide an ideal overwintering microclimate. Michoacán, Mexico on February 24, 2023. Jaime Rojo for National Geographic

South America, Singles: Drought in the Amazon

A fisherman walks across the dry bed of a branch of the Amazon River, near the Porto Praia Indigenous community in Tefé, Amazonas, Brazil on October 13, 2023. Lalo de Almeida for Folha de São Paulo

South East Asia and Oceania, Singles: Fighting, Not Sinking

Lotomau Fiafia, 72, a community elder, stands with his grandson John at the point where he remembers the shoreline used to be when he was a boy. Salia Bay, Kioa Island, Fiji on August 8, 2023. Eddie Jim for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald

World Press Photo Executive Director, Joumana El Zein Khoury said, “Each of these winning photographers is intimately and personally familiar with their topics. This helps them bring a deeper understanding to the rest of us, which hopefully leads to empathy and compassion.” – Rappler.com