World Press Photo 2021 winners – in pictures

We take a look at some of the winning images from the 64th annual photo contest. The overall winner is an image of an embrace given to a resident of a care home in São Paulo by Mads Nissen

Main image: Rosa Luzia Lunardi, 85, is embraced by the nurse Adriana Silva da Costa Souza at Viva Bem care home in São Paulo on 5 August 2020. Photograph: Mads Nissen/Politiken/Panos Pictures

  • Spot news – first prize, singles | Emancipation Memorial Debate

    Anais, 26, who wants to remove the Emancipation statue in Lincoln Park in Washington DC, argues with a man who wants to keep it, on 25 June 2020. Critics say the Emancipation Memorial – which shows Lincoln holding a copy of the emancipation proclamation as an African American man in a loincloth kneels at his feet – is demeaning in its depiction of African Americans. The drive to remove the statue comes amid a wave of calls to take down monuments of Confederate generals
    Anais, 26, argues with a man

  • Contemporary issues – first prize, singles | Yemen: Hunger, Another War Wound

    Fatima and her son prepare a fishing net in Khor Omeira Bay, Yemen, on 12 February 2020. Fatima has nine children. To provide for them, she makes a living from fishing. Although her village was devastated by armed conflict in Yemen, Fatima returned to resume her livelihood, buying a boat with money she earned selling fish. The conflict – between Houthi Shia Muslim rebels and a Sunni Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia – dates from 2014, and has led to what Unicef has termed the world’s largest humanitarian crisis
    Fatima and her son prepare a fishing net on a boat in Khor Omeira bay, Yemen

  • World Press Photo of the Year nominee | The Transition: Ignat

    Ignat, a transgender man, sits with his girlfriend, Maria, in St Petersburg, Russia, on 23 April 2020
    Ignat, a transgender man, sits with his girlfriend Maria in Saint Petersburg, Russia

  • Environment – first prize, stories | Pantanal Ablaze

    Firefighters combat a fire at the São Francisco de Perigara farm, which is home to one of the largest populations of hyacinth macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) in the world. About 95% of the farm area, mostly dedicated to preservation, was destroyed by the fires. In 2020 the Pantanal faced the largest destruction by burning in its history. From January to October, fires burned 4.2m hectares of the Pantanal, which corresponds to 28% of the entire biome, killing a vast amount of the region’s wildlife
    Firefighters combat a fire at the São Francisco de Perigara farm

  • Contemporary issues – second prize, singles | Doctor Peyo and Mister Hassen

    Marion 24, who has metastatic cancer, embraces her son Ethan, seven, in the presence of Peyo, a therapy horse, in the Séléne palliative care unit at the Centre Hospitalier de Calais in France on 30 November 2020. ‘With Peyo, we try to recreate life at the end of life, in order to fight, and create an energy to accompany families and caregivers,’ says its owner, Hassen Bouchakour. Animal-assisted therapy is used in many clinical environments, especially psychological therapy and palliative care. Animals appear to be able to reduce anxiety and stress, and also to have physical effects, such as lowering blood pressure, improving heart rate, or helping in pain management
    Marion 24, who has metastatic cancer, embraces her son Ethan, seven in the presence of Peyo, a therapy horse

  • Spot news – first prize, stories | Port Explosion in Beirut

    An injured man stands inside the wrecked site of the port of Beirut while firefighters work to put out out fires that engulfed the warehouses after the explosion. At about 6pm on 4 August 2020, the blast, caused by more than 2,750 tons of high-density ammonium nitrate, shook Lebanon’s capital. The explosive compound was being stored in a warehouse in the port. About 100,000 people lived within 1km of the warehouse. The explosion, which measured 3.3 on the Richter scale, damaged or destroyed about 6,000 buildings, killed at least 190 people, injured a further 6,000, and displaced as many as 300,000
    An injured man stands inside the wrecked site of the port of Beirut while firefighters work to put out the fires that engulfed the warehouses after the explosion

  • Contemporary issues – first prize, stories | Sakhawood

    Twins Semyon and Stepan perform in the roles of dulgancha, mythical swamp creatures, in The Old Beyberikeen with Five Cows, in Sakha, Russia, on 9 August 2019. It is the first experience of participation in cinema for them. They travelled from their small village a few hundred kilometres away
    Twins Semyon and Stepan

  • Sports – first prize, stories | Those Who Stay Will Be Champions

    Dion Brown sits with his girlfriend Lakenya Thomas as they watch a junior varsity game in a nearly empty gym on 24 February 2020. The Flint Jaguars basketball team in Michigan embodies efforts to nurture stability, encourage mutual support and strengthen community spirit in a city struggling to survive. Flint, the birthplace of General Motors, is striving against outmigration caused by a precipitous decline in its motor industry, a health crisis brought about by the authorities switching water supply sources without proper safeguards, and the systemic neglect of high-poverty, predominantly Black neighborhoods
    Jaguars junior Dion Brown sits his girlfriend Lakenya Thomas as they watch a junior varsity game in a nearly empty gym, 24 February 2020

  • World Press Photo of the Year nominee | Leaving Home in Nagorno-Karabakh

    Azat Gevorkyan and his wife, Anaik, are pictured before leaving their home on 28 November 2020 in Lachin, Nagorno-Karabakh, the final district to be returned to Azerbaijani control following the second Nagorno-Karabakh war
    Azat Gevorkyan and his wife Anaik before leaving their home in Lachin, Nagorno-Karabakh

  • Environment – first prize, singles | California Sea Lion Plays with Mask

    A curious California sea lion swims towards a face mask at the Breakwater dive site in Monterey, California, on 19 November 2020. California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) are playful animals, native to western North America. With Covid-19 lockdowns in place across California, outdoor and natural beauty spots with plenty of wildlife became a popular focus for local travel
    A curious California sea lion swims towards a face mask at the Breakwater dive site in Monterey, California, USA, on 19 November 2020

  • World Press Photo of the Year | The First Embrace

    Rosa Luzia Lunardi, 85, is embraced by the nurse Adriana Silva da Costa Souza at Viva Bem care home in São Paulo on 5 August 2020. ‘This was the first hug Rosa had received in five months. In March, care homes across the country had closed their doors to all visitors as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, preventing millions of Brazilians from visiting their elderly relatives. Carers were ordered to keep physical contact with vulnerable people to an absolute minimum. At Viva Bem, a simple invention, “the hug curtain”, allowed people to hug each other once again.’
    Rosa Luzia Lunardi (85) is embraced by nurse Adriana Silva da Costa Souza, at Viva Bem care home, São Paulo, Brazil, 5 August

  • Nature – first prize, singles | Rescue of Giraffes from Flooding Island

    A Rothschild’s giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) is transported to safety in a custom-built barge from a flooded Longicharo Island, Lake Baringo, Kenya, on 3 December 2020. Rothschild’s giraffes are a subspecies of the northern giraffe and are classified as endangered. Longicharo Island was once a peninsula. Rising water levels in Lake Baringo over the past 10 years have cut the peninsula off to form an island. Particularly heavy rainfall in 2019 caused further floods, stranding nine giraffes
    A Rothschild’s giraffe

  • Sports – third prize, singles | Tour of Poland Cycling Crash

    The Dutch cyclist Dylan Groenewegen (left), crashes metres before the finish line after colliding with his compatriot Fabio Jakobsen during the first stage of the Tour of Poland, in Katowice on 5 August 2020. Groenewegen had deviated from his line, veering towards the right barrier and leaving little room for Jakobsen, sending him crashing over the barricade. The two had been competing for first place in the stage, and were travelling at about 80km/h
    The Dutch cyclist Dylan Groenewegen (left), crashes metres before the finish line after colliding with his compatriot Fabio Jakobsen

  • World Press Photo Story of the Year | Habibi

    The dress and shoes of the prisoner Nael al-Barghouthi in his bedroom in Kobar, Palestine, in August 2015. His wife, Iman, keeps all her husband’s clothes, shoes and items in their home. Nael was arrested on 4 April 1978 after carrying out a commando operation in which one Israeli was killed. Released during Shalit’s agreement between Hamas and Israel in 2011, he has been arrested again and sentenced to life imprisonment. He has spent 41 years in prison and is the longest-serving Palestinian inmate in Israeli jails. Items left behind by inmates allow us to perceive the absence of men and to understand the emptiness they left in the life of their family members
    he dress and shoes of the prisoner Nael al-Barghouthi in his bedroom in Kobar, Palestine

  • Spot news – third prize, singles | Forest Fire

    A child sits inside a car close to a forest fire in Oliveira de Frades, Portugal, on 7 September 2020. A wildfire began in Oliveira de Frades, about 100km from Porto in eastern Portugal and spread about 30km west to Sever do Vouga and 40km south-west to Águeda in the neighbouring district. At least 300 firefighters, 100 land vehicles and 10 firefighting planes battled the blaze in a landscape dominated by eucalyptus trees
    A child sits inside a car close by a forest fire in Oliveira de Frades, Portugal, on 7 September 2020

  • Spot news – third prize, stories | Minneapolis Unrest: The George Floyd Aftermath

    Protesters and residents watch as police in riot gear walk down a residential street on 28 May 2020, in St Paul, Minneapolis. Protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody on 25 May, were held in more than 150 American cities in the months that followed, a nationwide call for racial justice not seen since the civil rights protests of the 1960s. Polls taken in June by four different agencies indicate that between 15 million and 26 million people across the US participated in the protests, making it the largest movement in US history. Protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement spread to more than 2,000 cities in about 60 countries worldwide
    Protesters and residents watch as police in riot gear walk down a residential street, 28 May 2020, in St Paul, Minneapolis

  • Sports – third prize, stories | Thoughts of Flight

    Saeed’s brother and his friend push him towards the lake of Kosar Gachsaran Dam on 9 September 2020 in Gachsaran, Iran. Saeed Ramin is a professional traceur – a practitioner of parkour. Seven years ago, he fell in a parkour competition, injuring his spinal cord
    Sports – third prize, stories | Thoughts of Flight Saeed’s brother and his friend push him towards the lake of Kosar Gachsaran Dam

  • Spot news – second prize, singles | Waiting for Release at a Temporary Detention Center in Belarus

    Olga Sieviaryniec waits for her husband, Paval, outside a detention centre in Minsk, Belarus, on 22 July 2020. Paval Sieviaryniec had been held on remand since 7 June, and his family had learned he was about to be released. Olga waited outside the prison for two hours, but Paval was not freed. Paval Sieviaryniec is a Christian Democrat politician and a well-known political activist. He is one of the founders of Youth Front, a youth movement supporting civil society, and was arrested while collecting signatures in support of candidates to stand against President Alexander Lukashenko in his bid for a sixth consecutive term in office
    Olga Sieviaryniec waits for her husband Paval outside a detention center on Akrestsin Street, Minsk, Belarus, on 22 July 2020

  • Portraits, first prize – Stories | The ‘Ameriguns’

    Robert Baldwin Jr stands in his secret gunroom, behind a one-way mirror in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 16 April 2019. His girlfriend, Tori, sits at the table. ‘I like to give myself a gun as a gift to mark important moments, like Christmas or my birthday.’ It’s a family tradition. When he turned six, his father gave him his first .22-calibre rifle and taught him how to use it. ‘He used to shoot for fun. He was a hunter, and he wanted to bring me along, to forge a special bond. He succeeded.’
    Robert Baldwin Jr stands in his secret gunroom, behind a one-way mirror in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on 16 April 2019

  • Nature – first prize, stories | Pandemic Pigeons – A Love Story

    The photographer’s daughter, Merel, cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony before entering the house in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands on 6 April 2020. ‘She’s still frightened when Dollie suddenly lands on the balcony railing. I hide my smile behind the camera, as I try to comfort her by saying they won’t hurt you. “I thought he was going to attack me,” she replies. As the nesting pigeons keep coming back to our place, slowly my girls have started to appreciate them – perhaps not as much as I do, but it’s a start.’
    Merel cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony, before entering the house, in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands, on 6 April 2020
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