The 2015 World Press Photo of the Year: Warren Richardson, “Hope for a New Life,” Australia, 2015. A man passes a baby through the fence at the Serbia/Hungary border in Röszke, Hungary, 28 August 2015. (all images courtesy World Press Photo)
The World Press Photo Foundation has announced the winners of its annual contest. A picture by Australian photographer Warren Richardson was crowned the World Press Photo of the Year 2015; it shows a man passing a baby through a barbed-wire fence at the Hungarian–Serbian border. The haunting image was chosen for the prestigious photojournalism prize from 82,951 photos made by 5,775 photographers from 128 different countries.
Richardson’s photograph, for which he will receive €10,000, is one of many award-winning images in different categories that starkly document the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East. Sergey Ponomarev shot an overcrowded boat of refugees arriving on the thinly patrolled shores of Lesbos, Greece; Matic Zorman took a photograph of a child refugee clutching bars, her face covered with a clear raincoat as she waits in line at Serbia’s Presevo refugee registration camp; Bulent Kilic captured the chaos of Syrian refugees rushing through broken-down border fences to enter Turkish territory.
Viewed together, the photographs create a portrait of a world mired in violence. But they’re punctuated by moments of beauty: Mauricio Lima made a surreal image of children mid-leap over the Tapajos river in the tribal area of Sawre Muybu, Itaituba, Brazil; Daniel Ochoa de Olza photographed a girl in a garland at a decorated altar, celebrating “Las Mayas,” a Pagan-derived festival in honor of spring, in the town of Colmenar Viejo, Spain; Tim Laman captured an orangutan climbing high in the treetops of Gunung Palung National Park, Indonesia.
Herewith, a selection of winners in various categories. The entire collection of winning photographs is viewable online at the World Press Photo site.
General news stories, first place: Sergey Ponomarev’s photograph of refugees arriving by boat near the village of Skala on Lesbos, Greece.
General news single image, first place: Mauricio Lima’s photograph of a doctor rubbing 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.
Long term projects, second prize: Nancy Borowick’s “A Life in Death,” USA, 2015. Howie sits beside his wife Laurel as they get their weekly chemotherapy treatments. Greenwich, Connecticut, US, 30 January 2013.
People single image, first place: Matic Zorman’s photograph of a child covered with a raincoat while she waits in line to register at a refugee camp in Preševo, Serbia.
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Daily life single image, first place: Kevin Frayer’s photograph of Chinese men pulling a tricycle in a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China. (courtesy Kevin Frayer/Getty Images, World Press Photo)
Contemporary Issues, First Prize: Mário Cruz’s photograph of Abdoulaye, 15, a talibe imprisoned in a room with security bars to keep him from running away. Thies, Senegal, 18 May 2015.
Contemporary issues single image, first place: Zhang Lei’s photograph of Tianjin, a city in northern China, shrouded in haze.
General news stories, third place: Daniel Berehulak’s photograph of Nepalese villagess watching a helicopter picking up a medical team and dropping aid at the edge of a makeshift landing zone in Gumda, Nepal.
People stories, second place: Daniel Ochoa de Olza’s photograph from “Las Mayas,” a festival derived from pagan rites celebrating the arrival of spring, in the town of Colmenar Viejo, Spain. Young girls between the ages of 7 and 11 are chosen every year as “Maya” for the festival. The girls are required to sit still for a couple of hours at a decorated altar.
Daily life single image, second place: Mauricio Lima’s photograph of indigenous Munduruku children playing in the Tapajos river in the tribal area of Sawre Muybu, Itaituba, Brazil.
Nature stories, first place: Tim Laman’s photograph of a Bornean orangutan climbing over 30 meters up a tree in the rain forest of Gunung Palung National Park, West Kalimantan, Indonesia.
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