Colombian photographers honored

Two Colombian photographers are among the 42 winners of the 2026 World Press Photo Contest, putting Colombia at the center of this year’s awards. (worldpressphoto.org) World Press Photo said the 2026 winners were selected from 57,376 photographs submitted by 3,747 photographers from 141 countries. The organization announced the regional winners on April 10, and the overall World Press Photo of the Year will be named on April 23. (worldpressphoto.org; worldpressphoto.org) The Colombian winners are Ever Andrés Mercado Puentes of Buenaventura and Ferley A. Ospina of Cúcuta, both recognized in the South America stories category. El Tiempo reported their projects focus on culture, conflict and absence in different parts of Colombia. (worldpressphoto.org; eltiempo.com) Mercado Puentes won for “Manacillos: A Return to Life,” a series on an Afro-descendant community in Juntas, Buenaventura, reached by an eight-to-ten-hour boat trip up the Yurumanguí River. World Press Photo said the project documents a Holy Week ritual that draws displaced families back home for five days and can swell the village from about 800 residents to roughly 1,500 participants. (worldpressphoto.org) The jury said Mercado Puentes’ work shows the Fiesta de los Manacillos as more than folklore, describing it as a social and political affirmation in a territory pressured by illegal gold mining, industrial logging and armed groups. The photographer, who is Afro-Colombian and from Buenaventura, focuses his work on human rights, peacebuilding and cultural heritage in Colombia’s Pacific region. (worldpressphoto.org) Ospina won for “Name the Absence,” a project rooted in his family history in Norte de Santander. World Press Photo said Ospina’s father was murdered in 1999, and the series follows the effect of paternal absence through photographs of women in his extended family. (worldpressphoto.org) One image in Ospina’s series shows a 5-year-old girl in Los Patios, where World Press Photo says 30% of households are headed exclusively by women. The organization said the project turns a private visual diary into a broader story about isolation, grief and single-mother households in Colombia. (worldpressphoto.org) The wider 2026 selection leans heavily toward climate reporting across regions. World Press Photo’s release says the winners reflect the climate crisis from Los Angeles to the Philippines, Mexico and Norway. (worldpressphoto.org) In North and Central America, Mexican photographer César Rodríguez won for “Mexico, A Changing Climate,” a long-term project on floods, drought, water shortages and displacement. World Press Photo says 52% of Mexico’s territory is in arid or semi-arid zones, and environmental disasters have internally displaced about 2.7 million people over the last two decades. (worldpressphoto.org; heraldodemexico.com.mx) In Europe, Spanish photographer Brais Lorenzo was honored for “Burned Land,” a story on Galicia after Spain’s worst fire season in about three decades. World Press Photo says more than 200,000 hectares burned across Galicia in 2025, linking the fires to drought, heat, rural depopulation and forest policy decisions. (worldpressphoto.org; ecoticias.com) All 42 winners receive 1,000 euros, exhibition slots and publication in the annual yearbook, according to El Tiempo. The world premiere of the 2026 exhibition opens on April 24 at De Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam before traveling to more than 60 locations. (eltiempo.com; worldpressphoto.org)