World Press Photo 2026: Photography as a Lens on Global Issues, from ICE to Gaza

Photojournalism continues to serve as a crucial tool for bearing witness to the complexities of our present, offering critical and informed perspectives on unfolding events. World Press Photo has announced the winners of its 2026 competition, with the selected images, chosen from over 57,000 submissions by photographers from 141 countries, painting a picture marked by crises and conflicts, but also by forms of resistance and dignity.

The coveted Photo of the Year award went to Carol Guzy for her powerful series Separated by ICE, captured within the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York. The photograph documents a man being apprehended by immigration agents in front of his family, powerfully and humanely conveying the impact of immigration policies that disregard individual needs and affect even those who appear in good faith. The image serves as a testament to a repressive practice that transforms a place of justice into a site of trauma.

Alongside the winning photograph, the two finalists' entries broaden the scope of global urgencies. AID Emergency in Gaza by Saber Nuraldin depicts people scrambling onto a humanitarian aid truck in the Gaza Strip, highlighting the severity of the food crisis and the desperation of a population exhausted by ongoing atrocities and war crimes carried out by the Israeli army.

In 2025, the famine worsened in a context that an independent UN commission of inquiry on human rights has described as genocide, a designation contested by Israel. In March, Israeli authorities imposed a total blockade on aid, a strategy that humanitarian organizations characterize as the use of starvation as a weapon. According to the United Nations, between late May and early October 2025, at least 2,435 Palestinians seeking food were killed near or around aid distribution sites. Despite a ceasefire agreement reached in October, over 75% of the population continues to suffer from hunger and malnutrition.

Victor J. Blue's series, The Achi Women's Trials, documents a turning point in the long legal battle of a group of indigenous Maya women in Guatemala. These women are survivors of systematic violence during the protracted and brutal civil war, which began in 1960 with US interference and concluded in 1996. In this case, the photography captures a dimension of collective strength and justice achieved after decades of silence. Doña Paulina Ixpatá Alvarado, one of the plaintiffs who was detained and assaulted for 25 days in 1983, is portrayed with other Achi women outside a courthouse in Guatemala City on May 30, 2025. That afternoon, three former members of the civil self-defense patrols were sentenced to 40 years in prison for rape and crimes against humanity.

Commenting on the results, the global jury president Kira Pollack emphasized that photojournalism continues to operate under difficult and often precarious conditions, yet maintains an indispensable function: to produce evidence, to make hidden stories visible, and to build memory.

Among the winners of the 2026 World Press Photo Contest is Italian photographer Chantal Pinzi, recognized for her project Farīsāt: Gunpowder’s Daughters. The work addresses a current and complex theme: the entry of women into a traditionally male domain – Moroccan Tbourida, an equestrian discipline that evokes ancient Arab warfare techniques. Through the stories of these female riders, Pinzi documents a process of cultural transformation that challenges deeply ingrained patriarchal norms.

«Farīsāt: Gunpowder’s Daughters tells the story of Moroccan women who, through their participation in Tbourida – an equestrian tradition evoking ancient Arab warfare techniques – are reclaiming their place within the country's cultural heritage. For centuries, women were forbidden from riding horses: today, these female riders, by challenging deeply rooted patriarchal norms, are rewriting history and redefining social boundaries,» Pinzi explained. «In recent years, I have chosen to tell the stories of women practicing sports considered 'unsuitable' for them: choices that become acts of silent resistance. This is the kind of story that interests me to explore, as it fits into a broader process of social transformation, where a new generation no longer accepts imposed rules and inherited models,» the photographer continued, adding, «I am proud to have received the World Press Photo for a project that speaks of female resistance, but above all, to have kept a promise to myself: to respectfully tell the stories of those who decide to trust my gaze, to open up, and to expose themselves. This recognition also belongs to them and to our shared responsibility to make their struggles visible.»

The recognition marks a significant moment in the author's career. In August, she will be featured in National Geographic, having previously documented the subjection of women worldwide. In Colombia, she documented the resistance of Wayuu women against mining exploitation, and in India, she followed rural female wrestlers challenging male social codes by appropriating public space. This work then led her to Morocco, where in 2022, she initiated the Shred the Patriarchy project: an investigation that earned her her first World Press Photo for images dedicated to the Farisāt.

The winning images from the World Press Photo Contest 2026 will be showcased in the annual World Press Photo traveling exhibition, which will visit over 60 international locations. The exhibition's world premiere will be held in Amsterdam at De Nieuwe Kerk on April 24. In Italy, it will be on display from May 7 to June 29 at Palazzo Esposizioni in Rome, from September 26 to October 25 at the Ethical Photography Festival in Lodi, and from October 30 to November 30 at Galleria Modernissimo in Bologna.