View the entire collection of winning images from the 56th World Press Photo Contest. The winners were selected from over 100,000 images submitted to the contest.
Ongoing conflict in Syria between troops and militia loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, and dissidents of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other rebel groups, led to escalating fatalities and a massive exodus of refugees.
The group of deprived neighborhoods known as the ‘Crescent’, around the northern edge of downtown Rochester, New York State, USA, is renowned for its high crime and murder rates.
A year after the March 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated large areas of northeastern Japan, thousands of people remained without homes, and the Japanese government was still struggling to dispose of rubble and help rebuild livelihoods.
Aida cries as she recovers from severe injuries sustained during a Syrian military bombardment of her home, in the northern city of Idlib. Her husband and two children were killed in the attack.
A Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) soldier lies dead in a pool of oil next to a leaking oil facility in the town of Heglig, after a clash with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).
Israeli border police officers use pepper spray as they detain a Palestinian protestor during clashes after Friday prayers on Land Day, outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City.