The World Press Photo Contest 2024 has announced its four global winners, honoring photographers who have captured powerful and emotional moments of wars, migrations, and personal lives. The winning images, selected from over 61,000 entries from 130 countries, offer a poignant yet necessary glimpse into the atrocities of contemporary conflicts and the challenges of human existence.
The Photo of the Year, taken by Palestinian Mohammed Salem for Reuters, depicts a scene of unspeakable grief. In the image, Inas Abu Maamar, 36 years old, cradles the lifeless body of her 5-year-old niece Saly, who was killed along with her mother and sister by an Israeli missile that struck their home in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. The jury praised the care and respect with which the photo was composed, offering both a metaphorical and literal look at an unimaginable loss.
A Palestinian Woman Embraces the Body of Her Niece
Mohammed Salem, Palestine, Reuters
The Story of the Year award went to Lee-Ann Olwage from South Africa for «Valim-babena,» a photographic story published in GEO that explores dementia in Madagascar through the lens of family caregiving. The images tenderly portray «Dada Paul» Rakotozandriny, 91 years old, being cared for by his daughter Fara, emphasizing the love and closeness needed in a world marked by war and aggression.
Valim-babena
Lee-Ann Olwage, South Africa, for GEO
Venezuelan Alejandro Cegarra won the award for the long-term project «The Two Walls», published by The New York Times and Bloomberg, documenting the resilience of migrants heading to the United States through Mexico. Drawing from his own experience as a migrant, Cegarra offers a sensitive and human-centered view, celebrating the agency of migrants in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
The Two Walls
Alejandro Cegarra, Venezuela, The New York Times/Bloomberg
Finally, Ukrainian Julia Kochetova won the Open Format prize with «War Is Personal,» a multimedia project intertwining photography, poetry, audio, and music to showcase the daily impact of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Created in collaboration with Ukrainian illustrator and DJ, the website offers a visceral immersion into the lives of those living with the conflict as a daily reality.
War Is Personal
Julia Kochetova, Ukraine
Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo, highlighted how the winning photographers have «an intimate and personal familiarity with their subjects,» allowing them to convey understanding, empathy, and compassion through their works. She also mentioned the risks faced by photojournalists, with the past year seeing a nearly record number of journalists killed, many of them in Gaza.
The global jury chair, Fiona Shields from The Guardian, emphasized the power of the winning images to «convey a specific moment, resonating beyond their subject and time.» The photo of the year, in particular, encapsulates «this sense of impact and is incredibly moving to see, while also making a case for peace.»
