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World Press Photo 2021 winners

Take a look at a selection of the celebrated images recognised this year by The World Press Photo Foundation.

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CONTEMPORARY ISSUES - FIRST PRIZE, SINGLE: Fatima and her son prepare a fishing net on a boat in Khor Omeira bay, Yemen, on February 12, 2020. [Pablo Tosco, Argentina]
By News Agencies
Published On 15 Apr 2021

An image of an elderly woman being embraced by a healthcare worker in Brazil during the coronavirus pandemic has won the prestigious World Press Photo of the Year award.

Judges on Thursday described Mads Nissen’s photograph as an “iconic image of COVID-19” that memorialises “the most extraordinary moment of our lives, everywhere”.

“I read vulnerability, loved ones, loss and separation, demise, but, importantly, also survival – all rolled into one graphic image,” said Kevin Wy Lee, photographer, creative director and 2021 Photo Contest jury member about the winning photo, titled The First Embrace. “If you look at the image long enough, you’ll see wings: a symbol of flight and hope.”

The awards by World Press Photo Foundation recognised photographers for the best pictures contributing to the past year of visual journalism, covering the COVID-19 pandemic, the Israel-Palestine conflict and the Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd in the United States.

Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of the World Press Photo Foundation, said 2020 was a “difficult year” for journalism, adding that the awards honoured “the visual storytellers that put their lives at risk to present us with important stories about our world”.

We take a look at a selection of this year’s celebrated images:

WINNER: WORLD PRESS PHOTO OF THE YEAR: Rosa Luzia Lunardi, 85 is embraced by nurse Adriana Silva da Costa Souza, at Viva Bem care home, Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 5. [Mads Nissen, Denmark, Politiken/Panos Pictures]
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LONG-TERM PROJECTS - FIRST PRIZE: Amma Elian, whose husband has been serving a life sentence since 2003, sits with twins born following IVF, in Tulkarm, Palestine, on January 25, 2015. [Antonio Faccilongo, Italy, Getty Reportage]
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES - FIRST PRIZE, STORIES: A film crew shoots the second part of The Old Beyberikeen With Five Cows, which is based on an old folktale, in Sakha, Russia, on August 6, 2019. The first part of the film, directed by Konstantin Timofeev, was a top 10 box-office hit earlier in 2019. [Alexey Vasilyev, Russia]
ENVIRONMENT - FIRST PRIZE, SINGLES: A curious California sea lion swims towards a face mask at the Breakwater dive site in Monterey, California, USA, on November 19, 2020. [Ralph Pace, United States]
ENVIRONMENT - FIRST PRIZE, STORIES: Firefighters combat a fire outbreak at the Sao Francisco de Perigara farm, which is home to one of the largest populations of Hyacinth macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) in Brazil on August 14, 2020. About 92 percent of the farm area, mostly dedicated to preservation, was destroyed by the fire. [Lalo de Almeida, Brazil, Panos Pictures, for Folha de Sao Paulo]
GENERAL NEWS - FIRST PRIZE, STORIES: A rocket remaining after the shelling of the city of Martuni (Khojavend) in Nagorno-Karabakh lies in a field on November 10, the day the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan came into effect. [Valery Melnikov, Russia, Sputnik]
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NATURE - FIRST PRIZE, SINGLES: A Rothschild’s giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) is transported to safety in a custom-built barge from a flooded Longicharo Island, Lake Baringo, in western Kenya, on December 3, 2020. [Ami Vitale, United States, for CNN]
NATURE - FIRST PRIZE, STORIES: The photographer’s daughter Merel cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony, before entering the house, in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands, on April 6, 2020. [Jasper Doest, The Netherlands]
PORTRAITS - FIRST PRIZE, SINGLES: Ignat, a transgender man, sits with his girlfriend Maria in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on April 23, 2020. [Oleg Ponomarev, Russia]
PORTRAITS - FIRST PRIZE, STORIES: Torrell Jasper, 35, poses with his firearms in the backyard of his house in Schriever, in the US state of Louisiana, on April 14, 2019. A former US Marine, he learned to shoot from his father as a child. [Gabriele Galimberti, Italy, for National Geographic]
SPORTS - FIRST PRIZE, SINGLES: Georg climbs a log pile while training for bouldering, in Kochel am See, Bavaria, Germany, on September 15, 2020. [Adam Pretty, Australia, Getty Images]
SPORTS - FIRST PRIZE, STORIES: A basketball net supported by cinder blocks stands beside a street in the US city of Flint on February 25, 2020. The board reads ‘FDT’, an acronym based on a popular anti-Donald Trump protest song. [Chris Donovan, Canada]
SPOT NEWS - FIRST PRIZE, SINGLES: A man and woman disagree on the removal of the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park, Washington, DC on June 25, 2020. [Evelyn Hockstein, United States, for The Washington Post]
SPOT NEWS - FIRST PRIZE, STORIES: Firefighters work to put out the fires that engulfed warehouses in Beirut, Lebanon, on August 4, 2020, after a massive deadly explosion at the port. [Lorenzo Tugnoli, Italy, Contrasto]