World Press Photo themes

The 2026 World Press Photo winners turn this year’s biggest stories into 42 images, from Los Angeles wildfires to Arctic ice loss and flooded weddings. (worldpressphoto.org) World Press Photo announced the 69th contest winners in April after judging 57,376 photographs submitted by 3,747 photographers from 141 countries. The contest awards seven projects in each of six regions, for a total of 42 winners. (worldpressphoto.org) The organization now runs the contest through six regional juries and one global jury, a model it launched in 2021. In 2026, 31 of the 42 winners photographed the region they live in, and entries rose 11% from South America and 14% from Asia-Pacific and Oceania compared with 2025. (worldpressphoto.org) The pictures cluster around a few recurring subjects: climate pressure, war and displacement, civic protest, illness, family life and wildlife under stress. World Press Photo said the winning work ranges from the United States and Ukraine to Nepal, Pakistan and Palestine, alongside women’s movements in Guatemala and Kenya. (worldpressphoto.org) Some of the clearest examples come from climate-linked images. Ethan Swope’s “Los Angeles on Fire” documents the January 2025 fires that World Press Photo says destroyed more than 18,000 buildings and displaced 200,000 residents, while Aaron Favila’s “Wedding in the Flood” shows a bride entering Barasoain Church in Bulacan on July 22, 2025 after Typhoon Wipha submerged the site. (worldpressphoto.org 1) (worldpressphoto.org 2) Wildlife appears in the winners as evidence, not scenery. Roie Galitz’s “Polar Bear on Sperm Whale,” shot north of Svalbard on July 8, 2025, shows a female polar bear feeding on a whale carcass in a region where World Press Photo says the ice-free summer season has lengthened by 20 weeks in 30 years. (worldpressphoto.org) Human connection runs through the quieter projects. World Press Photo said the selected work includes stories about illness, isolation, grief, younger generations in South Africa and Morocco, and families affected by immigration enforcement in the United States. (worldpressphoto.org) The contest structure helps explain why the themes feel global but specific. Entries are judged where they were made, across Singles, Stories and Long-Term Projects, and all Singles must have been shot in 2025 while Stories and Long-Term Projects can include earlier work under set rules. (worldpressphoto.org) That format also rewards slower reporting. Pablo Ernesto Piovano’s long-term project “The Human Cost of Agrotoxins” traces Argentina’s soybean model back to 1996 and says pesticide use rose from 40 million to 580 million liters a year, with 60% of cultivated land now sprayed. (worldpressphoto.org) The overall World Press Photo of the Year has not been named yet. World Press Photo says that prize will be chosen from the 42 winners, with the announcement scheduled for April 23, 2026. (worldpressphoto.org)