Photo of the Year and Finalists announced

World Press Photo announces the Photo of the Year of the 2026 Contest

Voir le communiqué de presse en français ici / Vea el comunicado de prensa en español aquí 

World Press Photo announces the Photo of the Year and two finalists of the 2026 World Press Photo Contest, awarding the world’s best photojournalism and documentary photography.

The Photo of the Year is Separated by ICE by Carol Guzy, ZUMA Press, iWitness, for Miami Herald.

This photograph was taken inside one of the few US federal buildings where photographers were granted access—a single hallway where Carol Guzy and others showed up, day after day, to document what was happening. It captures a harrowing moment: a family separated by the state. Luis was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents following an immigration court hearing at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, in New York City, New York, United States, on 26 August 2025. Luis, an Ecuadorian migrant whom his family says has no criminal record, served as the household’s sole provider. His wife Cocha and their three children (aged seven, 13, and 15) were left inconsolable, facing immediate financial hardship and profound emotional trauma.

What Carol Guzy has documented is not an isolated instance, but a policy indiscriminately applied to people who arrive for hearings in good faith. It is evidence and documentation of a government policy being applied systematically to people who followed the rules they were given.

This image was selected from a larger body of work by Guzy, ICE Arrests at New York Court, awarded in the Stories category of the North and Central America region.

Carol Guzy, winner of the World Press Photo of the Year in 2026:
“This award highlights the critical importance of the story worldwide. We bear witness to the suffering of countless families, but also to their grace and resilience that transcends adversity that has been quite humbling. The courage to open up their lives to our cameras, allowed us to tell their stories. And certainly this award belongs to them, not me.”

Executive director of World Press Photo, Joumana El Zein Khoury:
“This image shows the inconsolable grief of children losing their father in a place built for justice. It is a stark and necessary record of family separation following the US reform policies. In a democracy, the camera’s presence in that hallway serves as a witness to a policy that has turned courthouses into sites of shattered lives — it is a powerful example of why independent photojournalism matters.”

The two finalists of the World Press Photo of the Year are:

Aid Emergency in Gaza by Saber Nuraldin, EPA Images
Palestinians climb onto an aid truck as it enters the Gaza Strip via the Zikim Crossing in an attempt to get flour, during what the Israeli military called a “tactical suspension” in operations to allow humanitarian aid through. 27 July 2025.

In 2025, famine took hold amid what an independent United Nations Human Rights Commission inquiry has concluded is a genocide in Gaza, which Israel disputes. Israeli authorities imposed a complete aid blockade in March, a tactic described by humanitarian organizations as the weaponization of starvation. The UN reports that between late May and early October, at least 2,435 Palestinians seeking food were killed at or near aid distribution sites. Despite a ceasefire agreement in October, more than 75% of the population still face hunger and malnutrition. The photographer was born in Gaza and has documented life there since 1997.

The jury commented that this image renders visible the scale and urgency of famine in the second year of this war in Gaza. The straight forward composition forces the viewer to pause, and offers visual evidence of famine, and the destruction surrounding the scene. The jury felt that the photograph confronts the viewer with the reality of the situation while also pointing to its collective impacts and global implications.

The Trials of the Achi Women
by Victor J. Blue, for The New York Times Magazine

Doña Paulina Ixpatá Alvarado, a plaintiff who was held captive and assaulted for 25 days in 1983, stands with fellow Achi women outside a Guatemala City court, on 30 May 2025. That afternoon, three former civil defense patrollers were sentenced to 40 years in prison for rape and crimes against humanity.

For four decades, a group of Indigenous Maya Achi women in Rabinal lived in the same communities as the men who had raped them, sometimes as neighbors. Guatemala’s civil war led to the genocide of thousands of Maya Achi people by the military and local state-backed paramilitary forces, who used sexual violence as a systematic weapon to subjugate Indigenous communities. In 2011, 36 women broke their silence, launching and winning a 14-year legal battle against their abusers. Their collective resilience is transforming a legacy of wartime impunity into a historic victory for justice.

The jury commented that this photograph’s classical, restrained approach emphasizes the women's dignity and authority, deliberately countering historical visual narratives that frame women—particularly survivors of sexual violence—as powerless subjects. Instead, the portrait documents a moment of collective strength at the conclusion of their long struggle for justice.

The global jury chair for 2026 was Kira Pollack, a Harvard Shorenstein Center fellow exploring archival innovation through emerging technologies. She previously held leadership roles at TIME, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times Magazine. She said:

“Photojournalism has never been easy work. It has never been lucrative, or safe, or guaranteed an audience. And yet photographers go. To the courthouses and the conflict zones, to the quiet corners of the world where history is being made without witnesses. They go because they believe that seeing matters. That evidence matters.” 

Notes to editors


The 2026 World Press Photo Contest
For 71 years, the annual World Press Photo Contest has recognized the best photojournalism and documentary photography produced over the previous year. This year’s winners represent the best of the 57,376 photographs submitted by 3,747 photographers from 141 countries. Offering a powerful reflection of our world, the winners illuminate the realities we face globally; marked by fracture, urgency and yet an innate resilience. Discover all winners.

The Photo of the Year winner and two finalists were selected from every photograph awarded in the 2026 Contest that was taken in 2025. The Photo of the Year winner receives an additional 10,000 euros. They and the two finalists also receive a FUJIFILM GFX100 II camera, with two batteries (NP-W235) and one battery charger (BC-W235) plus their choice of either two FUJINON GF lenses, or a fixed lens digital camera, FUJIFILM GFX100RF, and a FUJINON GF lens - with a total retail value of over 14,000 euros (depending on options selected).

The World Press Photo Yearbook 2026
Our annual collectible publication, the World Press Photo Yearbook 2026, presenting the award-winning photographs and stories of the 69th annual World Press Photo Contest, will be available for purchase in early May. The Yearbook is published in six languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. It is available to pre-order now.

The World Press Photo Exhibition 2026
The images awarded in the 2026 World Press Photo Contest will be shown to millions worldwide as part of World Press Photo’s annual traveling exhibition in over 60 locations around the world. The world premiere of the exhibition opens in Amsterdam at De Nieuwe Kerk on 24 April. More locations will be confirmed throughout the year and added to the calendar page.

Key exhibition dates 2026

24 April - 27 September: De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
3 May - 3 June: University Square, Bucharest, Romania
5 May - 28 June: Caixa Cultural, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
6 May - 26 May: Fundación Cajasol, Sevilla, Spain
7 May - 7 June: Landesmuseum, Zurich, Switzerland
7 - 31 May: Willy-Brandt-Hause, Berlin, Germany
7 May - 29 June: Palazzo Esposizioni, Rome, Italy
21 May - 14 June: Stadthalle, Balingen, Germany
22 May - 15 June: Altonaer Museum, Hamburg, Germany
30 May - 21 June: Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane, Australia
6 June - 19 July: State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
10 June - 30 June: Hotel Pol – Cultural Centre, Sant Julià de Lòria, Andorra
25 June - 4 October: Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City, Mexico
14 July - 6 September: Caixa Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil
8 August - 20 September: Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, Australia
26 August - 12 October: Marché Bonsecours, Montréal, Canada
18 September - 15 November: Westlicht, Vienna, Austria
25 September - 24 October: Erasmus Huis Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia
25 September - 8 November: Museum of Ethnography, Budapest, Hungary
26 September - 25 October: Festival Della Fotografia Etica, Lodi, Italia
26 September - 18 October: Pressen, Copenhagen, Denmark
9 October - 8 November: Studio94, Taipei, Taiwan
9 October - 1 November: Zoom Photo Festival, la Pulperie, Chicoutimi, Canada
12 October - 31 October: The Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
15 October - 15 November: Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria, Spain
27 October - 20 December: Caixa Cultural, Curitiba, Brazil
30 October - 29 November: Museum Hilversum, Hilversum, the Netherlands
30 October - 30 November: Galleria Modernissimo, Bologna, Italy
6 November - 13 December: Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
26 January 2027 - 21 March 2027: Caixa Cultural, Salvador, Brazil


Key editorial dates to note:

• Friday 24 April: The Flagship World Press Photo Exhibition 2026 opens to the public at De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This marks the start of the exhibition’s worldwide tour. See all confirmed locations.
• Thursday 28 - Saturday 30 May: World Press Photo Days 2026 take place and include events for the winners of the 2026 Contest, industry professionals and the public.
• Saturday 30 May: The Stories That Matter, a ticketed public event returning for its fourth edition at De Nieuwe Kerk, brings together the awarded photographers of the 2026 Contest, international speakers, critical thinkers, and the wider public to explore the urgent issues and narratives shaping our world. Press are invited to attend and cover the event by contacting nicola@worldpressphoto.org. 
For more information and to arrange interviews with this year’s winners, please contact:

Europe, Southwest Asia and North Africa:
Nicola Jeffs
+447794694754

Rest of the world:
Alexandra Fanning
(347) 468-0735

About World Press Photo

World Press Photo is an independent non-profit organization that champions the power of photojournalism and documentary photography to deepen understanding, promote dialogue, and inspire action.

Founded in the Netherlands in 1955, our annual and thematic exhibitions reach millions of people in over 80 locations world-wide each year, and our online work reaches millions more. We create space for reflection in times of urgency, while upholding standards of accuracy, authenticity, visual excellence, and diverse perspectives. Our education programs help photographers reach these standards, and members of the public recognize them.

We are thankful for the support of our funders, particularly our strategic partners the Dutch Postcode Lottery and FUJIFILM Corporation.

For more information, visit www.worldpressphoto.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X, Bluesky, and YouTube.

About press freedom

Journalists face an increasingly hostile environment worldwide. At least 94 journalists were killed while carrying out their work across 15 countries in 2025. More than half of those deaths occurred in Palestine, and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) states that Israel has committed more targeted killings of journalists than any other government’s military since records began, threatening free reporting almost to extinction. Worldwide, people working to supply reliable information are attacked, kidnapped, or imprisoned. Together with the flood of misinformation and a death-squeeze on revenue for the independent press, these threats endanger freedom and democracy.

Download resources
• Captions and credits sheet

Read more on how the Contest works
• Prizes

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