Winners of the 2013 World Press Photo Contest Announced – Some NSFW

The winners of the 2013 World Press Photo Contest have been announced, with the photo of the year going to Paul Hansen from the Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nyheter. His image was a haunting photo of a group of Palestinian men carrying the bodies of two small children, who were killed during fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces.

103,481 images were entered by 5,666 photographers from 124 countries. The jury gave prizes in nine themed categories to 54 photographers of 32 nationalities.

Mayu Mohanna, jury member from Peru, said of Hansen’s winning picture,
“The strength of the pictures lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow of the adults with the innocence of the children. It’s a picture I will not forget.”

World Press Photo of the Year 2012
Paul Hansen, Sweden, Dagens Nyheter
20 November 2012, Gaza City, Palestinian Territories
Two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and his older brother Muhammad were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. Their father, Fouad, was also killed and their mother was put in intensive care. Fouad’s brothers carry his children to the mosque for the burial ceremony as his body is carried behind on a stretcher.

2nd Prize Spot News Single
Emin Özmen, Turkey
31 July 2012, Aleppo, Syria
Opposition fighters regularly launched operations to seize suspected government informants after dark. Two informants were captured, declared guilty under interrogation, and tortured throughout the night; tired fighters had to be replaced so the torture could continue. After 48 hours, the captives were released.

2nd Prize Spot News Stories
Fabio Bucciarelli, Italy, Agence France-Presse
10 October 2012, Aleppo, Syria
A Free Syrian Army fighter takes up a position during clashes against government forces in the Sulemain Halabi district.

1st Prize General News Single
Rodrigo Abd, Argentina, The Associated Press
10 March 2012, Idib, Syria
Aida cries while recovering from severe injuries she received when her house was shelled by the Syrian Army. Her husband and two children were fatally wounded during the shelling.

3rd Prize General News Stories
Daniel Berehulak, Australia, Getty Images
Japan After the Wave
07 March 2012, Rikuzentakata, Japan
Pine trees uprooted during the tsunami lay strewn over the beach.
One year later, areas of Japan most impacted by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that left 15,848 dead and 3,305 missing, continue to struggle. Thousands of people remain living in temporary dwellings. The government faces an uphill battle with the need to dispose of rubble as it works to rebuild economies and livelihoods.

1st Prize Sports – Sports Action Single
Wei Seng Chen, Malaysia
Pacu Jawi Bull Race, Indonesia
12 February 2012, Batu Sangkar, West Sumatra, Indonesia
A jockey, his feet stepped into a harness strapped to the bulls and clutching their tails, shows relief and joy at the end of a dangerous run across rice fields. The Pacu Jawi (bull race) is a popular competition at the end of harvest season keenly contested between villages.

2nd Prize Sports – Sports Action Stories
Sergei Ilnitsky, Russia, European Pressphoto Agency
The Golden Touch – Fencing at the Olympics
31 July 2012, London, UK
Alaaeldin Abouelkassem of Egypt (top) in action against Peter Joppich of Germany during their Men’s Foil Individual Round 16 match.
Years of training, thousands of battles, and hundreds of victories prepared fencing competitors for the opportunity to stand on the piste at the 2012 London Olympic Games to fight for gold.

1st Prize Sports – Sports Features Stories
Jan Grarup, Denmark, Laif
Women’s Basketball, Mogadishu, Somalia
21 February 2012, Mogadishu, Somalia
The Somali basketball association pays armed guards to watch over and protect Suweys and her team when they play.
In Mogadishu, the war-torn capital of Somalia, young women risk their lives to play basketball. Suweys, the 19-year-old captain of a women’s basketball team, and her friends defy radical Islamist views on women’s rights. They have received many death threats from not only al-Shabaab militias and radical Islamists, but some male members of their own families. “I just want to dunk,” said Suweys. It is on the basketball court she feels happiest. “Basketball makes me forget all my problems.”

1st Prize Contemporary Issues Single
Micah Albert, USA, Redux Images
03 April 2012, Nairobi, Kenya
Pausing in the rain, a woman working as a trash picker at the 30-acre dump, which literally spills into households of one million people living in nearby slums, wishes she had more time to look at the books she comes across. She even likes the industrial parts catalogs. “It gives me something else to do in the day besides picking [trash],” she said.

1st Prize Contemporary Issues Stories
Maika Elan, Vietnam, Most
The Pink Choice, Vietnam
22 June 2012, Da Nang, Vietnam
Phan Thi Thuy Vy and Dang Thi Bich Bay, who have been together for one year, watch television to relax after studying at school.
Vietnam has historically been unwelcoming to same-sex relationships. But its Communist government is considering recognizing same-sex marriage, a move that would make it the first Asian country to do so, despite past human rights issues and a long-standing stigma. In August 2012, the country’s first public gay pride parade took place in Hanoi.

2nd Prize Daily Life Single
Søren Bidstrup, Denmark, Berlingske
Early Morning on Summer Holiday, Italy
08 July 2012, Jeselo, Italy
Summer holiday camping. Someone is up a little too early.

1st Prize Daily Life Stories
Fausto Podavini, Italy
Mirella
01 June 2010, Rome, Italy
Despite her husband’s life-threatening disease, Mirella devoted her life to assisting Luigi, trying to be positive and reassuring, looking after him with intense love and respect. Everyday care, usually done in a few minutes, takes hours when it concerns someone with dementia.
Mirella, 71, spent 43 years of her life with the only person she loved, with all of life’s difficulties, laughter, and beautiful moments. But over the last six years things changed: Mirella lived with her husband Luigi’s illness, Alzheimer’s, and devoted her life to him as his caregiver.

2nd Prize Prize People – Staged Portraits Single
Stefen Chow, Malaysia, for Smithsonian magazine
Ai Wei Wei
06 February 2012, Beijing, China
Ai Weiwei

1st Prize People – Staged Portraits Stories
Stephan Vanfleteren, Belgium, Panos for Mercy Ships/De Standaard
People of Mercy, Guinea
17 October 2012, Conakry, Guinea
Makone Soumaoro, 30, goiter. “I don’t have pain, but I am worried that my neck swells that much. I hope it it is not a tumor because I am a housewife and my man and three children need me.”
Guinea is one of the least developed countries in the world. More than 60 percent of the population lives on less than one dollar per day. Three quarters of the population is illiterate. Health care is substandard and unaffordable for most people. Some get help with their health problems from NGO Mercy Ships aboard the hospital ship ‘African Mercy’ docked in the capital Conakry. They are treated by volunteer surgeons, doctors and nurses with such health issues as cataracts, teeth problems, and skin diseases to more complex orthopedic or tumor surgeries.

1st Prize Nature Single
Christian Ziegler, Germany
Southern Cassowary, Australia
16 November 2012, Black Mountain Road, Australia
The endangered Southern Cassowary feeds on the fruit of the Blue Quandang tree. Cassowaries are a keystone species in northern Australian rainforests because of their ability to carry so many big seeds such long distances.

1st Prize Nature Stories
Paul Nicklen, Canada, National Geographic magazine
Emperor Penguins, Ross Sea
18 November 2011, Ross Sea, Antarctica
Even though they have evolved an incredibly advanced bubble physiology the greatest challenge they face is the loss of sea ice that supports their colonies and ecosystem.
New science shows that Emperor Penguins are capable of tripling their swimming speed by releasing millions of bubbles from their feathers. These bubbles reduce the friction between their feathers and the icy seawater, allowing them to accelerate in the water. They use speeds of up to 30 kilometers per hour to avoid leopard seals and to launch themselves up onto the ice.

All images used with permission.