These images are uncomfortable to look at. But that’s the point. Meet the winning World Press Photos

War. A climate crisis. An attempted assassination. An Olympic athlete. A child in shock. These are just some of the moments represented in the winning images from the 2025 World Press Photo Contest. And yet, despite the wide range of topics covered, despite representing 42 photographers from 30 different countries, the winning images all somehow feel connected.

On March 27, the judges and contest organizers unveiled the 2025 World Press Photo Contest Winners. But while the contest highlights photojournalists and documentary photographers across the globe in some of 2024’s most newsworthy moments, the winning images all feel as if they are connected by a common theme, representing a human connection that can be portrayed across language and cultural barriers.

“I think if we look at the winning images collectively rather than as individual images, what we see is that many of them are interconnected and overlapping,” said Finbarr O’Reilly, a photographer and judge for the Europe region and global portion of the contest. “I think in any picture and as the regional jury and then as the global jury, what you want to feel is human connection, a strong human connection to any image.”

The collection of 42 winning projects includes images that represent some of the biggest moments of 2024. A photo by Washington Post photographer Jabin Botsford of Donald Trump being rushed off stage after an attempted assassination. A viral photograph of a surfer floating in midair with his board during the 2024 Paris Olympics Games by Jerome Brouillet. A protester clearing tear gas from her eyes by Mikhail Tereschenko. A photo of an aircraft surrounded by blue sky and clouds not because it's soaring through the sky but because it is sitting on a completely flooded tarmac reflecting the sky in Brazil by Anselmo Cunha. An image of a child after a double amputation by Samar Abu Elouf.

The images, judges say, are the sort of historic photographs that make viewers stop scrolling. “The world is not the same as it was in 1955 when World Press Photo was founded,” said Joumana El Zein Khoury, the Executive Director for World Press Photo. “We live in a time when it is easier than ever to look away, to scroll past, to disengage. But these images do not let us do that. They cut through the noise, forcing us to acknowledge what is unfolding, even when it is uncomfortable, even when it makes us question the world we live in - and our own role within it.”

This year’s event is the contest’s 70th year and includes a handful of changes from previous contests. Judges recognized three winners in each category for each region whereas the previous three years only recongized one. Those categories include singles, stories, and long-term projects.

While 2025’s 42 winning photographers – 30 of whom took photos in the country where they live – have been announced, the organization will announce a single photograph as the World Press Photo of the Year and two finalists on April 17. The following day, the collection of winning images will embark on a worldwide gallery tour.

Browse through some of the winning images from the contest below or view additional images at the World Press Photo website.

Africa

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Asia-Pacific and Oceania

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Europe

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North and Central America

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South America

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West, Central, and South Asia

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The London Exhibition 2025 will be held from 23rd May at the MPB Gallery, Here East, London.

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