Latin American WPP winners named

World Press Photo’s 2026 contest put Latin American photographers at the center of its regional winners list, with awards for photographers from Argentina, Colombia and Mexico. (worldpressphoto.org) The organization announced 42 winners on April 9, selected from 57,376 photographs submitted by 3,747 photographers in 141 countries. World Press Photo said its global winner and two finalists will be announced on April 23, 2026. (worldpressphoto.org) In South America, Argentina’s Tadeo Bourbon won in Singles for “Milei’s Argentina,” and Pablo E. Piovano won in Long-Term Projects for “The Human Cost of Agrotoxins.” Colombia’s Ever Andrés Mercado Puentes won in Stories for “Manacillos: A Return to Life,” and Ferley A. Ospina won in Stories for “Name the Absence.” (worldpressphoto.org) Bourbon’s winning image was taken on May 14, 2025, during a pensioners’ protest in Buenos Aires, where police detained Father Jorge “Chueco” Romero outside Argentina’s National Congress. World Press Photo said clergy from Option for the Poor had joined weekly demonstrations against pension freezes and cuts to medical coverage. (worldpressphoto.org) World Press Photo said Argentina’s older people were hit by austerity measures introduced as the government tried to curb inflation that had reached 200%. The jury said Bourbon’s photograph showed “the stark disparity” between heavily armed police and a lone elder priest. (worldpressphoto.org) Piovano’s project traced the health effects of agrochemicals in Argentina, a subject he has documented for years. World Press Photo said the work centers on the fallout from Argentina’s 1996 approval of genetically modified, herbicide-resistant soybeans paired with glyphosate-based herbicides. (worldpressphoto.org) The Colombian winners were recognized for two very different stories from one country. Mercado Puentes documented Juntas, an Afro-descendant community in Colombia’s Pacific rainforest that faces pressure from illegal mining, logging and armed conflict, while Ospina’s project examined the absence of fathers in a region marked by displacement and violence. (worldpressphoto.org, worldpressphoto.org) In North and Central America, Mexican photographer César Rodríguez won the Long-Term Projects category for “Mexico, A Changing Climate.” World Press Photo said the project documents floods, drought, water shortages and displacement across Mexico. (worldpressphoto.org) The project ties those images to hard numbers: 52% of Mexico’s territory is in arid or semi-arid zones, about 2.7 million people have been internally displaced by environmental disasters over the last two decades, and that figure could reach 8 million by 2050. World Press Photo also said sea levels on Tabasco’s coast are rising three times faster than the global average. (worldpressphoto.org) Rodríguez told Proceso he hoped the award would help draw attention to climate-change damage in Mexico, including drought and fires in Monterrey, coastal erosion in Tabasco and Veracruz, and flooding in the State of Mexico. His project was published with partners including the Norwegian Red Cross, SNCA and The New York Times, according to World Press Photo. (proceso.com.mx, worldpressphoto.org) World Press Photo said the regional model it launched in 2021 is intended to broaden the range of stories and storytellers it recognizes. In 2026, it said, 31 of the 42 winners were local to the region they photographed, and entries from South America rose 11% from the 2025 contest. (worldpressphoto.org)