World Press Photo winners

World Press Photo released its 2026 contest winners on April 9, selecting 42 awarded projects from 57,376 photographs submitted by 3,747 photographers in 141 countries. (worldpressphoto.org) The Amsterdam-based foundation said the 2026 contest is its 69th annual edition, and the winning work will anchor an exhibition that opens at De Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on April 24 before touring worldwide. (worldpressphoto.org) The winners span conflict, climate, protest and daily life, with World Press Photo saying the awarded projects record stories from places including the United States, Ukraine, Nepal, Pakistan and Palestine. (worldpressphoto.org) World Press Photo’s annual contest is one of the field’s biggest showcases because it packages the previous year’s reporting into a single global list of images, then sends that work on an international exhibition circuit. The 2026 collection covers the best photojournalism and documentary photography of 2025. (worldpressphoto.org) Argentine photographer Tadeo Bourbon was among the winners for “Milei’s Argentina,” a project photographed in Buenos Aires that World Press Photo says examines a country “marked by economic crisis, political polarization, and rising social tension.” Bourbon was born in 1993 and is a member of Colectivo Triada. (worldpressphoto.org) Spanish photographer Brais Lorenzo also won for “Burned Land,” a project on Spain’s wildfires that the jury said offers “an urgent and complete view” of fires devastating the country. Lorenzo regularly works with the news agency EFE and has also contributed to Bloomberg and Agence France-Presse. (worldpressphoto.org) Another Spanish winner, Diego Ibarra Sánchez, was recognized for “Hijacked Education,” a long-term project on how war, extremism and displacement shut children out of school by destroying classrooms, killing teachers and forcing families to flee. Ibarra Sánchez is based in Lebanon and has documented conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, Iraq and Lebanon. (worldpressphoto.org) Luis Tato, a Spanish photojournalist based in Nairobi, was also among the winners with “Madagascar’s Gen Z Protests,” a project centered on youth-led demonstrations in the island nation. Tato joined Agence France-Presse in 2023 and now serves as chief photographer and photo coordinator for East Africa and the Indian Ocean. (worldpressphoto.org) The 2026 awards arrive as World Press Photo continues to frame the contest as both a prize and a public archive, with winners moving from online publication into a traveling show that starts in Amsterdam this week. The opening image set is different every year, but the mechanism is the same: pick the year’s reporting, then put it in front of a global audience. (worldpressphoto.org)