Winners of the 2024 World Press Photo Contest (2024)

Europe, Winner, Singles—A Father’s Pain: Mesut Hançer holds the hand of his 15-year-old daughter, Irmak, who died in the earthquake in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, the day after the 7.8-magnitude quake struck the country's southeast, on February 7, 2023. Rescuers in Turkey and Syria braved frigid weather, aftershocks, and collapsing buildings as they dug for survivors buried by an earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people. #

Adem Altan / Agence France-Presse

North and Central America, Winner, 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, February 24, 2023. #

Jaime Rojo / National Geographic

Winner, World Press Photo Open Format Award—War Is Personal (1 of 2): 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 update their audiences with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, the photographer Julia Kochetova has created a personal 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. #

Julia Kochetova

Winner, World Press Photo Open Format Award—War Is Personal (2 of 2): 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 update their audiences with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, the photographer Julia Kochetova has created a personal 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. #

Julia Kochetovaa

South America, Winner, Long-Term Projects—Mapuche: The Return of the Ancient Voices (1 of 2): Mapuche communities are the Indigenous inhabitants of territories that are now part of Argentina and Chile. Much of their ancestral land is being commercially exploited—for mining, forestry, and hydroelectric projects in Chile, and fracking in Argentina. Discrimination and punishment of Mapuche activists persist, despite new laws apparently supporting Mapuche rights. For many Mapuche, this presents not solely a territorial dispute: The land is part of their cultural and spiritual identity. Commercial degradation of the environment violates a balance among nature, ancestors, and human health. Here, cousins and friends of Rafael Nahuel swim in the Ñirihuau River. Nahuel (22) was killed during a raid by government forces on Indigenous activists in November 2017. Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina, January 29, 2019. #

Pablo E. Piovano, Greenpeace Award, GEO, National Geographic Society

South America, Winner, Long-Term Projects—Mapuche: The Return of the Ancient Voices (2 of 2): Children wear traditional Ngillatun masks in a Mapuche cemetery. The local community successfully opposed the building of a hydroelectric dam that would have flooded an adjacent ceremonial site. Maihue, Los Ríos, Chile, July 28, 2019. #

Pablo E. Piovano, Greenpeace Award, GEO, National Geographic Society

South America, Winner, Stories—Red Skies, Green Waters: Around the turn of this century, oil-rich Venezuela was prosperous, but its fortunes declined following plummeting oil prices, economic mismanagement, sanctions, and political instability. Oil spills from obsolete infrastructure and methane produced by the refining process ravage the environment. In the meantime, nearly 82 percent of Venezuelans live in poverty, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Here, neighbors play Animal Lotto under a sky lit by one of the world’s largest gas flares. Punta de Mata, Venezuela, November 5, 2022. #

Adriana Loureiro Fernandez, for The New York Times

Winner, World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award—The Two Walls (1 of 2): Migrants and asylum seekers lacking the financial resources to pay a smuggler often resort to using cargo trains to reach the United States border. This mode of transportation is very dangerous; over the years, hundreds have fallen onto the tracks and have been killed or mutilated. Thousands more have fallen victim to extortion, rape, kidnapping, or robbery orchestrated by drug cartels or corrupt authorities in various stops along the train’s northward route. Here, a migrant walks over a freight train known as the Beast as he arrives at Piedras Negras, Mexico, on October 8, 2023. #

Alejandro Cegarra, The New York Times / Bloomberg

Winner, World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award—The Two Walls (2 of 2): Ever Sosa carries his daughter on his shoulders as they cross the Suchiate River from Guatemala to Mexico, joining a caravan of three thousand migrants and asylum seekers in their attempt to follow the path to the United States in Ciudad Hidalgo, on January 20, 2020. #

Alejandro Cegarra, The New York Times / Bloomberg

Europe, Winner, Long-Term Projects—No Man’s Land (1 of 2): Germany positions itself as a leader in the transition toward renewable energy by 2030, yet remains heavily dependent on coal for energy production. In the Rhineland, forests have been cleared and villages demolished since the 1970s to make way for the Hambach and Garzweiler open-pit coal mines. In 2012, activists began occupying parts of Hambach Forest and later the village of Lützerath to resist these measures, managing by 2023 to save a remainder of the forest and five of six such villages scheduled for destruction. Here, police and security officers from the energy company RWE block activists belonging to the Ende Gelände action alliance, who have entered the Hambach open-pit mine. Kerpen, Germany, November 5, 2017. #

Daniel Chatard

Europe, Winner, Long-Term Projects—No Man’s Land (2 of 2): Demonstrators walk along the advancing edge of the Garzweiler II open-pit mine near Lützerath on the last weekend they could legally enter the village. Lützerath, Germany, January 8, 2023. #

Daniel Chatard

Jury Special Mention—The Aftermath of the Supernova Festival Attack: This year, the WPP jury made the decision to include two special mentions in the contest selection, reflecting "the gravity of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, the extreme suffering of civilians, and its global political impact." Here, an Israeli security-forces officer searches the site of the Supernova music festival for personal effects of victims of the October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in about 1,200 deaths, more than 2,500 reported injuries, and some 250 people held hostage from the festival and communities near the Gaza border. Re’im, Israel, October 12, 2023. #

Leon Neal / Getty

Jury Special Mention—Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza: A resident of al-Zahra walks through the rubble of homes destroyed in Israeli air strikes. The strikes hit about 25 apartment blocks in the university and residential neighborhood. At the time of writing (March 4, 2024), Israel’s attacks on the occupied Palestinian territories during the Israel-Hamas war had killed some 30,000 people and injured more than 70,000. Gaza City, Gaza, October 19, 2023 #

Mustafa Hassouna, Anadolu Images

Asia, Honorable Mention—The Edge: When Bangladesh declared independence in 1971, many Bengali Hindus and Muslims migrated to the predominantly Hindu state of Assam in northeastern India, fueling tensions at the border. In 2019, India’s government presented an updated National Register of Citizens that put into question the citizenship of more than 1.9 million people ostensibly from Bangladesh, whose status remains in limbo today. This project documents the Miya community that depends on land near the transnational Brahmaputra River for their livelihood and their identity in the eyes of the state. As their land erodes because of worsening floods, they face a fight against both nature and nation. Here, Bengali-speaking Hindus and Muslims help one another shift shops from the edge of the Brahmaputra river at the Tarabari ferry point. The shifting is done in anticipation of the erosion of land that occurs with each monsoon season, which is often devastating for residents as they are forced to constantly adapt to a changing landmass each year. Tarabari, Bahari constituency, Barpeta district, Lower Assam, India, June 15, 2023 #

Zishaan A Latif

Winner, World Press Photo Story of the Year—Valim-babena (1 of 2): 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” (age 91), who lives with dementia, has been cared for by his daughter Fara Rafaraniriana (age 41). Their story illustrates the Malagasy principle of valim-babena—the duty of grown children to help their parents. Here, Dada Paul and his granddaughter Odliatemix get ready for church. He has lived with dementia for 11 years. For much of that time, his family assumed he had “gone mad” or attributed the symptoms to alcohol consumption. Only his daughter Fara noticed something different and continued caring for him. Antananarivo, Madagascar, March 12, 2023 #

Lee-Ann Olwage for GEO

Winner, World Press Photo Story of the Year—Valim-babena (2 of 2): Fara and her daughter Odliatemix lie together on the bed they share with Dada Paul. Fara is the sole provider for the family of three. Only one organization in Madagascar, Masoandro Mody, provides support and training to family members of people living with dementia. Antananarivo, Madagascar, March 12, 2023. #

Lee-Ann Olwage for GEO

North and Central America, Winner, Singles—A Day in the Life of a Quebec Fire Crew: Fueled by high temperatures and dry conditions, gigantic summer forest fires swept across Canada in 2023, affecting all 13 provinces and territories, especially northern parts of Quebec. Here, Theo Dagnaud scans the horizon to ensure that firefighter patrols have left, and he can mark the area as “controlled.” July 13, 2023. #

Charles-Frederick Ouellet

South America, Winner, Singles—Drought in the Amazon: In 2023, the Amazon experienced its most intense drought since recordkeeping began. The drought disproportionately impacted Indigenous, rural, and river communities. Because Porto Praia has no road access and is normally reachable only by river, the drought meant that residents had to walk for kilometers along the dry riverbed to reach their homes. Here, a fisherman walks across the bed of a branch of the Amazon River, near the Porto Praia Indigenous community. Tefé, Amazonas, Brazil, October 13, 2023. #

Lalo de Almeida, for Folha de São Paulo

North and Central America, Winner, Open Format—The Gay Space Agency: This project combines fiction with fact in order to confront the U.S. space program’s historical exclusion of openly LGBTQ astronauts. In a review of the NASA and United States National Archives, the photographer found no documentation of the contributions of the queer community to the space program. The absence inspired her to imagine "the Gay Space Agency," a diverse and inclusionary institution that commemorates and celebrates the history of queer astronauts. Here, the Gay Space Agency astronaut Brian Murphy is seen during flight simulations. #

Mackenzie Calle

Asia, Winner, Long-Term Projects—I Am Still With You: This project is a private visual record that aims to explore the concept of family photos. In close collaboration with the family, the photographer tells the story of Jiuer, a young mother of three in northern China who gains more understanding and appreciation for life in her final years after being diagnosed with cancer. Before her surgery, Jiuer invited the photographer to take family photos, and later, when her condition deteriorated, asked her to record the time she spent with her children. In this image, after surgery and radiotherapy treatment, Jiuer recovers well and the family feels optimistic about the future. Jiuer says, “Life is not long. Do what you want to do, and choose what you love.” Liaoning, China, November 28, 2020. #

Wang Naigong

Winner, World Press Photo of the Year—A Palestinian Woman Embraces the Body of Her Niece: Inas Abu Maamar (age 36) cradles the body of her niece Saly (age 5) who was killed, along with her mother and sister, when an Israeli missile struck their home, in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 17, 2023. The photographer, Mohammed Salem, described the image, 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.” He found Inas squatting on the ground, embracing the child, at the Nasser Hospital morgue, where residents were going to search for missing relatives. Inas had raced to the family home when she heard that it had been hit, and then on to the morgue. #

Mohammed Salem / Reuters