The winners of the 59th annual World Press Photo contest were announced. From Syrian refugee crisis and Nepal Earthquake to the wild orangutans of Borneo, these are the best that the year of photojournalism had to offer.
For winning the prestigious Photo of the Year award, one of the top prizes in photojournalism, Richardson will receive €10,000 and will receive a Canon 1D X Mark II DSLR and lens kit from Canon. The winning photos will also be exhibited in 100 cities in 45 countries over the next year, and will be viewed by an estimated 3.5 million people worldwide. All the photos are absolutely amazing.
“Hope for a New Life” – by Australian photographer Warren Richardson.
World Press Photo of the Year and Spot News, 1st prize singles: A man passes a baby through the fence at the Hungary-Serbia border in Roszke, Hungary on Aug. 28, 2015.
Haze in China by Zhang Lei of China
A city in northern China shrouded in haze, Tianjin, China.
Women in Nepal weeps as the body of her daughter is recovered from the rubble of her earthquake destroyed home
Photo – Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
Bishnu Gurung weeps as the body of her 3-year-old daughter, is recovered from the rubble of her earthquake destroyed home, on May 8, 2015, in the village of Gumda, Nepal. Neighbors discovered the body of the small girl in the collapsed entrance of the Gurung family home, ending a 13-day search for Rejina in the remote mountainous village of Gumda in Gorkha district.
Rangers exhibit their riding skills as they return to Zakouma National Park
Brent Stirton / Getty Images for National Geographic
Nature, 2nd prize stories: Rangers exhibit their riding skills as they return to Zakouma National Park after weeks on elephant patrol in Zakouma, Chad, on Jan. 7, 2015
Chinese men pull a tricycle in a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China.
Photo by Kevin Frayer of Canada
A history of heavy dependence on burning coal for energy has made China the source of nearly a third of the world’s total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the toxic pollutants widely cited by scientists and environmentalists as the primary cause of global warming.”
A Syrian child fleeing the war is lifted over border fences
Bulent Kilic / AFP – Getty Images
Spot News, 3rd prize stories: A Syrian child fleeing the war is lifted over border fences to enter Turkish territory illegally, near the Turkish border crossing at Akcakale in Sanliurfa province on June 14, 2015.
Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Krill poses at the Bellingshausen station at King George Island of Waterloo, Antarctica.
IS Fighter Treated at Kurdish Hospital by Mauricio Lima of Brazil
“A doctor rubs ointment on the burns of Jacob, a 16-year-old Islamic State fighter, 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.”
Mexico’s Colima Volcano displays a powerful night explosion with lightning, ballistic projectiles, and incandescent rockfalls.
Photo Credit: Sergio Tapiro
Reporting Europe’s Refugee Crisis by Sergey Ponomarev of Russia
General News, 1st prize stories: Migrants and refugees arrive by boat in November 2015 near the village of Skala on the Greek island of Lesbos. Under Europe’s system of open internal borders, the island’s thinly patrolled, easily accessible coastline, within sight of the Turkish coast, might as well be the frontier of France or Germany or Sweden.
Storm Front on Bondi Beach by Rohan Kelly of Australia
“A massive ‘cloud tsunami’ looms over Sydney as a sunbather reads, oblivious to the approaching cloud on Bondi Beach.”
Tough Times for Orangutans by Tim Laman of USA
Waiting to Register by Matic Zorman of Slovenia
“A child is covered with a raincoat while she waits in line to register at a refugee camp in Preševo, Serbia.”
Demonstration against terrorism in Paris, after a series of five attacks on the Île-de-France region, beginning at the headquarters of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo
Exposure by Kazuma Obara of Japan
The world’s worst nuclear accident happened on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Just 5 months after the disaster, a girl was born in Kiev just 100 km south from Chernobyl. The wind included a lot of radioactive elements, and the girl became one of the victims of the tragedy. This series of pictures represent the last 30 years of the life of that invisible girl. All pictures were taken on old Ukrainian color negative films, which were found in the city of Pripyat, located 5 km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.”
FIS World Championships by Christian Walgram of Austria
“Czech Republic’s Ondrej Bank crashes during the downhill race of the Alpine Combined at the FIS World Championships in Beaver Creek, Colorado, USA.”
Vetluga’s Hockey by Vladimir Pesnya of Russia
Players of an amateur hockey team in provincial Russia before, during and after a game in the regional championship in Vetluga, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia.”
Sexual Assault in America’s Military by Mary F. Calvert of USA.
Series portraying women who have been raped or sexually assaulted during their service with the US Armed Forces. At the moment, only one out of ten reported sexual violence cases go to trial and most military rape survivors are forced out of service. Victims suffer from the effects of Military Sexual Trauma, (MST), which include depression, substance abuse, paranoia and feelings of isolation.”
You can find the entire gallery of winning photos, including 2nd and 3rd prize winners, on the World Press Photo website.