The photo of the global press of the year 2025 was awarded to Samar Abu Elouf, a Palestinian photographer based in Doha, for his poignant image of Mahmoud Ajjour, a young boy seriously injured as he fled an Israeli attack in Gaza.
Captured for the newspaper of the New York Times, photography powerfully transmits the sufferings and resilience of Mahmoud after an explosion in March of last year, one of his arms cut and the other mutilated.
Since his evacuation from Gaza in December 2023, Abu Elouf has documents the experiences of people like Mahmoud, who asked for medical treatment abroad.
Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo, an organization based in Amsterdam, described the image as “silent” but deeply punchy, capturing the intimate suffering of a child while speaking to the wider repercussions of world conflicts.
The winner and two finalists were announced Thursday, when the press exhibition of worldwide photos were opened in Amsterdam. The exhibition will go to more than 60 locations in the world, presenting some of the most convincing and most striking stories of the year.
For 70 years, the World Press Photo competition has honored the best of photojournalism. This year’s competition has received at least 59,000 submissions of photographers in 141 countries, featuring powerful stories of struggle, challenge, warmth and courage.
Here are some of the best images of this year:
