Photographers are often at the center of ongoing wars, disasters and conflicts, showing the courage to brave a moment for a chance to document it. Such is reflected in this year’s World Press Photo winning news images: from refugees to teenage Islamic State fighters, child victims of air raids to the mourning Nepalese after a brutal earthquake.
The images were selected out of 82,912 images submitted to eight different categories—including Sports, Portraits and Wildlife—in the 58th annual World Press Photo contest.
The overall winner—and First Prize winner in the Spot News category—photographer Warren Richardson, captured a refugee father handing his baby to another man through barbed-wire at the Hungarian-Serbian border.
Corentin Fohlen won Second Prize in the Spot News category, one of the most contested fields, for his image of a demonstration against terrorism in Paris, following a series of five attacks that began at the headquarters for satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
In the General News Singles category, Brazilian Mauricio Lima won for his powerful New York Times image of a teenage Islamic State fighter being treated for burns at a Kurdish hospital.
The Times’ Sergey Ponomarev won First Prize in the General News category for his reporting on Europe’s refugee crisis, which depicted migrants arriving by boat, boarding a train or crossing from Croatia into Slovenia.
Kevin Frayer, whose work in Tibet was published on TIME LightBox, dominated the Daily Life category for his series on Tibetan Buddhists in the Bliss Dharma Assemble and his image of Chinese men pulling a tricycle to a coal-fired power plant.
General News, 1st prize stories. Refugees arrive by boat near the village of Skala on Lesbos, Greece, Nov. 16, 2015.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesGeneral News, 1st prize stories. Refugees attempt to board a train headed to Zagreb, Croatia in Tovarnik, Hungary, Sept. 18, 2015.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesGeneral News, 1st prize stories. A Slovenian police officer escorts migrants that have crossed from Croatia. Dobova, Slovenia, Oct. 20, 2015.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesGeneral News, 1st prize stories. Migrants are escorted by Slovenian riot police to a registration camp outside Dobova, Slovenia, Oct. 23, 2015.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesGeneral News, 2nd prize stories. A wounded Syrian girl at a makeshift hospital in Douma, Syria, Aug. 22, 2015.Abd Doumany, Agence France-PresseGeneral News, 2nd prize stories. Child victims of air raids by Syrian government forces in the rebel-held city of Douma, Syria. In this photograph, a Syrian man carries the body of a child, killed in an airstrike by government forces in Douma, Syria, Nov. 7, 2015.Abd Doumany, Agence France-PresseGeneral News, 2nd prize stories. A wounded Syrian girl cries at a makeshift hospital in the rebel-held area of Douma, Syria, Aug. 12, 2015.Abd Doumany, Agence France-PresseGeneral News, 2nd prize stories. A wounded Syrian girl holds on to a relative as she awaits treatment by doctors at a makeshift hospital in Douma, Syria, May 11, 2015.Abd Doumany, Agence France-PresseGeneral News, 3rd prize stories. A woman cries as the body of her daughter is recovered from the rubble of her destroyed home. Gumda, Nepal, May 8, 2015.Daniel Berehulak for The New York TimesGeneral News, 3rd prize stories. Residents forage through their destroyed homes, gathering salvageable belongings. Bhaktapur, Nepal, April 29, 2015.Daniel Berehulak for The New York TimesGeneral News, 3rd prize stories. The aftermath of the April 25, 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal.In this photograph, Nepalese villages watch a helicopter picking up a medical team, dropping aid at the edge of a makeshift landing zone in Gumda, Nepal, May 9, 2015.Daniel Berehulak for The New York TimesGeneral News, 3rd prize stories. Flames rise from burning funeral pyres during the cremation of earthquake victims at the Pashupatinath Temple on the banks of Bagmati River, Kathmandu, Nepal, April 28, 2015.Daniel Berehulak for The New York TimesGeneral 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 Aug. 1, 2015.Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesGeneral News, 2nd prize singles. Refugees travel in darkness through Europe to avoid detection; Lesbos, Greece, Dec. 6, 2015.Paul Hansen for Dagens NyheterGeneral News, 3rd prize singles. Aerial view of the destruction after the explosion in Tianjin, China, Aug. 15 2015.Chen JieSpot News, 1st prize singles and World Press Photo of the Year. A man passes a baby through the fence at the Hungarian-Serbian border in Röszke, Hungary, Aug. 28, 2015.Warren RichardsonSpot 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, Jan. 11, 2015.Corentin FohlenSpot 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.Niclas HammarströmSpot News, 1st prize stories. Douma, a rebel-held city in a suburb of the capital Damascus, lies in the opposition bastion area of Eastern Ghouta and has been subject to massive regime aerial bombardment. The area has also been under a crippling government siege for nearly two years as part of a regime attempt to break the rebel’s hold in the region. Douma and small rural towns in the Eastern Ghouta area were recorded as suffering from the highest number of fatalities since the start of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. Government planes regularly bomb Douma and other small towns in Ghouta, which is an agricultural belt around the capital, leaving a constant trail of destruction and loss of lives. At the end of September 2015, Russia launched air strikes in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The thunderous shelling in and around and the city has forced civilians from the town to join the growing number of more than four million Syrians fleeing the country since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011.In this photograph, smoke rises from a building following reported shelling by Syrian government forces in Douma, Syria, 30 October 2015.Sameer Al-Doumy, Agence France-PressSpot News, 1st prize stories. A boy is evacuated from rubble following reported airstrikes in the city of Douma, Syria, June 16, 2015.Sameer Al-Doumy, Agence France-PressSpot News, 1st prize stories. A wounded man walks out of a dust cloud following reported airstrikes in the town of Hamouria, Syria, Dec. 9, 2015.Sameer Al-Doumy, Agence France-PressSpot News, 1st prize stories. Destructed city of Douma, Syria, Dec. 13, 2015.Sameer Al-Doumy, Agence France-PressSpot News, 2nd prize stories. A wall of rock, snow and debris slammed on Everest Base Camp in Nepal on April 25, 2015, killing at least 22 people and injuring many more. The avalanche was triggered by a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 8,000 people elsewhere in the country.Rescue helicopters managed to reach the site about 18 hours after the avalanche as bad weather, strong aftershocks and fears of further avalanches rattled survivors. At the time of the disaster, the 5,364-meter-high Base Camp was teeming with hundreds of climbers and supporting teams who use the camp to prepare their ascent to the peak of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth.
Roberto Schmidt, Agence France-PressSpot News, 2nd prize stories. Trekking guide Pasang Sherpa searches for survivors among flattered tents moments after a wall of rock, snow and debris slammed on Everest Base camp. Nepal, April 25, 2015.Roberto Schmidt, Agence France-PressSpot News, 2nd prize stories. Rescuers carry an injured person to a medical tent after the avalanche hit the Everest Base Camp. Nepal, April 25, 2015.Roberto Schmidt, Agence France-PressSpot News, 2nd prize stories. A man suffering from severe head trauma is bundled in a sleeping bag used as a makeshift stretcher while being taken by rescuers to a medical tent moments after the avalanche in Nepal, April 25, 2015.Roberto Schmidt, Agence France-PressSpot News, 3rd prize stories. Syrians fleeing the war rush through broken down border fences to enter Turkish territory illegally, near the Turkish border crossing at Akcakale in Sanliurfa province. Turkey said it was taking measures to limit the flow of Syrian refugees onto its territory after an influx of thousands more over the last days due to fighting between Kurds and jihadists. Under an "open-door" policy, Turkey has taken in 1.8 million Syrian refugees since the conflict in Syria erupted in 2011.A refugee man holds a young girl as others climb over broken-down border fences to enter Turkish territory; Sanliurfa, Turkey, June 14, 2015.Bulent Kilic, Agence France-PresseSpot News, 3rd prize stories. A refugee man holds a crying girl as others rush through broken down border fences to enter Turkish territory; Sanliurfa, Turkey, June 14, 2015.Bulent Kilic, Agence France-PresseSpot News, 3rd prize stories. Refugees wait to enter Turkey near the Turkish border crossing at Akçakale, Turkey, June 15, 2015.Bulent Kilic, Agence France-PresseSpot News, 3rd prize stories. Islamic State members ask people to go back to city centre at the Turkish Akçakale crossing gate in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, June 13, 2015.Bulent Kilic, Agence France-PresseContemporary Issues, 1st prize singles. A city in northern China shrouded in haze, Tianjin, China, Dec. 10, 2015.Zhang Lei for Tianjin DailyContemporary 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. Feb. 27, 2015.Adriane OhanesianContemporary 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, Nov. 25, 2015.John J. Kim for Chicago TribuneContemporary Issues, 1st prize stories. Runaway talibes stand on the bank of Senegal river, Saint Louis, Senegal, May 20, 2015.Mário CruzContemporary Issues, 1st prize stories. Talibes sleep next to each other inside a daara on the concrete floor without any protection. Saint Louis, Senegal, May 21, 2015.Mário CruzContemporary Issues, 1st prize stories. Series portraying the plight of Talibes, boys who live at Islamic schools known as Daaras in Senegal. Under the pretext of receiving a Quranic education, they are forced to beg in the streets while their religious guardians, or Marabout, collect their daily earnings. They often live in squalor and are abused and beaten.In this photograph, Abdoulaye, 15, is a talibe imprisoned in a room with security bars to keep him from running away. Thies, Senegal, May 18, 2015.Mário CruzContemporary 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.Mário CruzContemporary 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, Sept. 3, 2015.Francesco Zizola, NoorContemporary Issues, 2nd prize stories. Migrants climb on board of a rescue ship by Doctors without Borders to escape their sinking rubber dinghy. Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea, Aug. 21, 2015.Francesco Zizola, NoorContemporary Issues, 2nd prize stories. Migrants wrapped in emergency blankets two days after being rescued catch sight of the Italian coast for the first time; Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea, Aug. 23, 2015.Francesco Zizola, NoorContemporary Issues, 2nd prize stories. Libyan migrants being rescued by the international medical relief organization Doctors Without Borders in the Mediterranean Sea.In this photograph, an overcrowded rubber dinghy sails from Libya to Italy, Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea, Aug. 26, 2015.Francesco Zizola, NoorContemporary Issues, 3rd prize stories. Although they hadn't planned it, Emily and Kate got pregnant within weeks of each other through artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, respectively. Their sons were born within four days of each other, and the couple embraced the challenge of raising the two babies at once.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, Nov. 29, 2015.Sara Naomi LewkowiczContemporary Issues, 3rd prize stories. Emily watches as the nurses work to get Eddie to wake up and cry. The baby didn't cry immediately after being born, as his umbilical cord was tight and he was born "in distress”. "It was one of the scariest moments of my life," Emily said later. New York, New York, USA, Dec. 13, 2015.Sara Naomi LewkowiczContemporary Issues, 3rd prize stories. Emily holds the new-born baby to meet his new little brother. Reid and Eddie were born only four days apart, despite being due three weeks apart. Both babies had the same donor, making them biological half-brothers. “Oh my God,” Kate said, “we’re...like...a family, suddenly!” New York, New York, USA, Dec. 13, 2015.Sara Naomi LewkowiczContemporary Issues, 3rd prize stories. Emily rubs sleep out of her eyes while feeding Reid, as Kate holds Eddie during a late-night feeding. Maplewood, New Jersey, USA, Dec. 30, 2015.Sara Naomi LewkowiczDaily Life, 1st prize singles. Chinese men pull a tricycle in a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China, on Nov. 26, 2015.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.Kevin Frayer, Getty Images Daily Life, 2nd prize singles. Indigenous Munduruku children play in the Tapajos river in the tribal area of Sawre Muybu, Itaituba, Brazil on Feb. 10, 2015.The tribesmen of the Munduruku, who for centuries have sanctified the Tapajos River on which their villages sit, are fighting for survival. Brazil’s government plans to flood much of their land to build a $9.9 billion hydroelectric dam, the Sao Luiz do Tapajos, as part of a wider energy strategy across the Amazon rainforest.Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesDaily 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, Nov. 12, 2015.Zohreh Saberi, Mehrnews AgencyDaily Life, 1st prize stories. Chilean, Chinese and Russian research teams in Antartica seek to explore commercial opportunities that will arise once the treaties protecting the continent for scientific purposes expire.In this photograph, a Chilean scientist, supported by logisticians from the Chilean Antarctic Institute, are battered by waves on their way back to base after having taken sea-water samples; Fildes Bay, Antartica, Dec. 2, 2015.Daniel Berehulak, Australia for The New York TimesDaily Life, 1st prize stories. A priest looks on in the Bell room, after a vigil at the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity; Fildes Bay, Antartica, Dec. 3, 2015.Daniel Berehulak, Australia for The New York TimesDaily Life, 1st prize stories. The winter expedition crew of Russian research team and a Chilean scientist drink Samagon, a homemade vodka, in a bedroom of the Bellingshausen Antarctica base; Fildes Bay, Antartica, Dec. 28, 2015.Daniel Berehulak, Australia for The New York TimesDaily 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, Antartica, Dec. 7, 2015.Daniel Berehulak, Australia for The New York TimesDaily Life, 2nd prize stories. Tibetan Buddhists take part in the annual Bliss Dharma Assembly. The last of four annual assemblies, the week-long annual gathering takes place in the ninth month of the Tibetan calendar and marks Buddha's descent from the heavens.In this photograph, Tibetan prayer flags, known as Lung-ta, on a hillside in the Larung Valley of Sertar County, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, China, Oct. 30, 2015.Kevin Frayer, Getty Images Daily Life, 2nd prize stories. Tibetan Buddhist nuns stand following a chanting session in Sertar county, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, China, Oct. 30, 2015.Kevin Frayer, Getty Images Daily Life, 2nd prize stories. Tibetan Buddhist nomads cook by candlelight in Sertar county, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, China, Oct. 31, 2015.Kevin Frayer, Getty Images Daily Life, 2nd prize stories. Tibetan Buddhist nomads listen during the annual Bliss Dharma Assembly in Sertar county, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, China, Oct. 31, 2015.Kevin Frayer, Getty Images Daily Life, 3rd prize stories. A group of friends from Alemão, a slum in Rio de Janeiro, formed a media collective called Papo Reto, or "straight talk". Social media allow them to report stories from their community otherwise ignored by traditional media.In this photograph, Papo Reto collective members at Complexo do Alemao with a cableway station and cab in their back; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 8, 2015.Sebastián Liste, NoorDaily 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, Feb. 8, 2015.Sebastián Liste, NoorDaily Life, 3rd prize stories. Police patrolling the streets of Vila Aliança after a taxi driver was shot by police; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 8, 2015.Sebastián Liste, NoorDaily Life, 3rd prize stories. Papo Reto collective members taking pictures and videos of the Special Police Forces tank car patrolling in the streets of Vila Aliança after a taxi driver was shot by police; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 8, 2015.Sebastián Liste, Noor
