The World Press Photo of the Year winners are announced, the contest, which selects the world’s best documentary, reportage and photojournalistic work, revealed its 2025 winner and two runner-ups. The Photo of the Year from Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf, shows a young boy, Mahmoud Ajjour, severely injured while fleeing an attack during the Israeli-Gaza war. Abu Elouf was also awarded for her incredible reportage work, Amateur Photographer’s Photojournalism Award at the 2025 AP Awards.
Two finalists were also selected this year as runner-ups, John Moore’s image of Chinese migrants on the US-Mexico border and Nusuk Nolte’s work, Draughts in the Amazon.
World Press Photo of the Year
Mahmoud Ajjour, Aged Nine by Samar Abu Elouf, for The New York Times
Samar Abu Elouf was evacuated from Gaza in December 2023. She now lives in the same apartment complex as Mahmoud in Doha, where she has documented the few badly wounded Gazans who, like Mahmoud, have made it out for treatment. Mahmoud Ajjour was severely injured while fleeing an Israeli attack in Gaza City in March 2024. After he turned back to urge his family onward, an explosion severed one of his arms and mutilated the other. The family were evacuated to Qatar where, after medical treatment, Mahmoud is learning to play games on his phone, write, and open doors with his feet.
Mahmoud’s dream is simple: he wants to get prosthetics and live his life as any other child. The war in Gaza has taken a disproportionate toll on children and the United Nations estimates that by December 2024, Gaza had the highest number of child amputees per capita anywhere in the world.
Executive Director World Press Photo, Joumana El Zein Khoury said:
“This is a quiet photo that speaks loudly. It tells the story of one boy, but also of a wider war that will have an impact for generations. Looking at our archive, in the 70th year of World Press Photo, I am confronted by too many images like this one.
I remain endlessly grateful for the photographers who, despite the personal risks and emotional costs, record these stories to give all of us the opportunity to understand, empathise, and be inspired to action.
As we look ahead to the next 70 years, World Press Photo remains dedicated to supporting the photographers who risk everything to bring us the truth.”
The runner-ups
Night Crossing by John Moore, United States, Getty Images
Chinese migrants warm themselves during a cold rain after crossing the US–Mexico border. This image, both otherworldly and intimate, depicts the complex realities of migration at the border, which is often flattened and politicised in public discourse in the United States.
Droughts in the Amazon by Musuk Nolte, Peru/Mexico, Panos Pictures, Bertha Foundation
A young man brings food to his mother who lives in the village of Manacapuru. The village was once accessible by boat, but because of the drought, he must walk 2 kilometers along a dry riverbed in the Amazon. The striking contrast of dry, desert-like scenes in the world’s largest rainforest makes the absence of water hauntingly visible.
The World Press Photo Exhibition 2025 will take place at MPB Gallery, Here East, London from 23rd May – 25th Aug. Tickets available here: TicketTailor or visit: theexhibitionists.co.uk
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