World Press Photo 2026
The 2026 World Press Photo winners were published, framed around a world in “flux” and covering climate, human connection and wildlife imagery. (newatlas.com) Two Colombian photographers — Ever Andrés Mercado Puentes and Ferley Ospina — were singled out for stories about culture and loss. (colombiaone.com) Regional roundups highlight Asia‑Pacific winners and a shortlist that includes a widely circulated image from the Bondi terror attack. ( )
World Press Photo published its 2026 contest winners on April 9, selecting 42 projects from 57,376 photographs entered by 3,747 photographers in 141 countries. (worldpressphoto.org) The Amsterdam-based organization said the winning work spans conflict, climate, migration, protest, illness, grief and wildlife, with entries organized across six regions and three categories: Singles, Stories and Long-Term Projects. (worldpressphoto.org) World Press Photo said there is no ranking among those 42 regional winners yet. The overall World Press Photo of the Year and two finalists are scheduled to be announced on April 23, 2026, at De Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. (worldpressphoto.org) The contest now runs on a regional model introduced in 2021, with entries judged first by six regional juries and then by a global jury. World Press Photo said 31 of this year’s 42 winners photographed stories in their own regions. (worldpressphoto.org) That structure shaped this year’s results. World Press Photo said entrants from South America rose 11 percent from 2025, while entries from Asia-Pacific and Oceania rose 14 percent, and women and non-binary photographers made up 22 percent of submissions. (worldpressphoto.org) Two Colombian photographers were among the South America winners. Colombia One reported that Ever Andrés Mercado Puentes won for “Manacillos: A Return to Life,” about a Holy Week ritual in Juntas, Buenaventura, and Ferley Ospina won for “Naming the Absence,” about fatherlessness in Norte de Santander. (colombiaone.com) Mercado Puentes, who was born in Buenaventura, focuses his work on human rights, peacebuilding and cultural heritage in Colombia’s Pacific region, according to his World Press Photo biography. The jury said his project illuminated “a culturally significant narrative that is often overlooked.” (worldpressphoto.org) Ospina’s project drew on his own family history. Colombia One reported that illegal armed groups killed his father in 1999 in a border area of Norte de Santander, and the jury described the series as “a personal visual diary.” (colombiaone.com) In Asia-Pacific and Oceania, the winning singles included Edwina Pickles’s “Bondi Beach Terror Attack,” Matthew Abbott’s “The Last Dolphin Hunters,” and Tyrone Siu’s “A Desperate Plea,” according to World Press Photo’s regional collection and a regional roundup published by Hong Kong Free Press. (worldpressphoto.org (hongkongfp.com)) Australian Photography reported that Pickles’s image, published by The Sydney Morning Herald, shows a police officer near the bodies of Boris Gurman, 69, and Sofia Gurman, 61, after the April 2024 mass stabbing at Bondi Junction in Sydney. (australianphotography.com) The winners will now move into World Press Photo’s traveling exhibition, which the organization said reaches more than 60 locations worldwide each year. The next date on the calendar is April 23, when one of these regional winners becomes the 2026 Photo of the Year. (worldpressphoto.org)
