100 Of The Year's Most Compelling Press Photos

The biggest news stories of the year, visualised. (Contains graphic material.)

The World Press Photo exhibition, which opens next month in London, highlights the best photojournalism of the year, celebrating photographers whose award-winning work has brought the world’s biggest stories to life. Across 15 categories, the following images capture the drama and emotion at the heart of the refugee crisis, armed conflicts, natural disasters, and the backlash against police brutality – as well as sport, the natural world, and daily lives lived in different countries and cultures.

Hope for a New Life

Warren Richardson, Australia

A baby is handed through a hole in a razor-wire barrier, to a Syrian refugee who has already managed to cross the border from Serbia into Hungary, near Röszke.

March Against Terrorism in Paris

Corentin Fohlen / Divergence

People demonstrate their solidarity with victims of terrorist attacks, and voice support for freedom of speech, at the end of a rally at the Place de la Nation in Paris.

Gang-related Violence

Warning This image is graphic Tap to reveal Click to reveal

Niclas Hammarstrom, Sweden

A man lies dead after a gang shoot-out in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. He was the fourth victim on the same street of an ambush by members of the 18th Street gang on their rivals MS13.

Broken Border

Bulent Kilic / AFP

People cross into Turkey through a broken fence, near the official border crossing.

Broken Border

Bulent Kilic / AFP

People cross into Turkey through a broken fence, near the official border crossing at Akçakale. Akçakale and the Syrian town of Tel Abyad are directly adjacent to each other, with the border running through the middle.

Broken Border

Bulent Kilic / AFP

People run from water cannon, fired by Turkish soldiers to keep them away from border fences.

Aftermath of Airstrikes in Syria

Sameer Al-doumy / AFP

Smoke billows from a building in Douma, Syria.

Aftermath of Airstrikes in Syria

Sameer Al-doumy / AFP

Men carry the wounded after airstrikes.

Aftermath of Airstrikes in Syria

Sameer Al-doumy / AFP

A man pushes his bicycle past debris following airstrikes in Hamouria, Syria.

Sameer Al-doumy / AFP

A street in Douma following an airstrike. The SOHR put the death toll at 28, though other estimates were higher.

Avalanche

Roberto Schmidt / AFP

A wall of rock, snow, and debris roars toward Everest Base Camp, Nepal.

Avalanche

Roberto Schmidt / AFP

Rescuers using a makeshift stretcher carry an injured person, moments after the avalanche.

IS Fighter Treated at Kurdish Hospital

Warning This image is graphic Tap to reveal Click to reveal

Mauricio Lima / The New York Times

A doctor rubs ointment on the burns of a 16-year-old Islamic State fighter named Jacob in front of a poster of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, at a YPG hospital compound on the outskirts of Hasaka, Syria.

Under the Cover of Darkness

Paul Hansen / Dagens Nyheter

Volunteers assist refugees arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing by boat from Turkey under cover of darkness.

Tianjin Explosion

Chen Jie / Beijing News

A large pit, wrecked vehicles, and damaged buildings remain in the aftermath of explosions in the container storage station of a logistics company in the Port of Tianjin, northeastern China.

Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis

Sergey Ponomarev / The New York Times

Refugees arrive by boat near the village of Skala on Lesbos, Greece.

Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis

Sergey Ponomarev / The New York Times

A man carries his child as Hungarian police use tear gas, pepper spray, and water cannons against people trying to cross into the country from Serbia, the day after Hungary closed its border with Serbia.

Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis

Sergey Ponomarev / The New York Times

A Slovenian police officer on horseback escorts refugees after they crossed from Croatia.

Douma's Children

Warning This image is graphic Tap to reveal Click to reveal

Abd Doumany / AFP

A man cradles the body of his daughter, killed in an air raid.

Douma's Children

Warning This image is graphic Tap to reveal Click to reveal

Abd Doumany / AFP

A wounded boy awaits treatment, following airstrikes on a market and a hospital, which, according to the SOHR, were carried out by government forces.

Douma's Children

Abd Doumany / AFP

An injured girl stands in a makeshift hospital following shelling and airstrikes.

An Earthquake's Aftermath

Daniel Berehulak / The New York Times

Nepalese villagers watch a helicopter picking up a medical team, dropping aid at the edge of a makeshift landing zone in Gumda, Nepal.

An Earthquake's Aftermath

Daniel Berehulak / The New York Times

A woman cries as the body of her daughter is recovered from the rubble of her destroyed home. Gumda, Nepal.

An Earthquake's Aftermath

Daniel Berehulak / The New York Times

Residents forage through their destroyed homes, gathering salvageable belongings. Bhaktapur, Nepal.

An Earthquake's Aftermath

Daniel Berehulak / The New York Times

Flames rise from burning funeral pyres during the cremation of earthquake victims at the Pashupatinath Temple on the banks of Bagmati River, Kathmandu, Nepal.

FIS World Championships

Gepa Pictures / GEPA pictures

Czech skier Ondrej Bank crashes during the downhill portion of the alpine combined contest, at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. Bank stumbled and lost control just before the final jump. He was hospitalized with concussion and facial injuries.

2015 NCAA Tournament

Greg Nelson / Sports Illustrated

Ron Baker (31) shoots over Nick Zeisloft (2), as Hanner Mosquera-Perea (12) and Rashard Kelly (0) battle for position under the basket, at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament game between Wichita State and Indiana, at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha. The tournament, held each spring and popularly known as March Madness, is a major national competition, featuring 68 college teams. Since its creation in 1939, it has become the most popular basketball tournament in the US.

Neptun Synchro

Jonas Lindkvist / Dagens Nyheter

Members of Neptun swimming club’s synchronized swimming section perform in sailboat position, during pre-Christmas Lucia festivities.

The Gris-gris Wrestlers of Senegal

Christian Bobst, Switzerland

Superstar wrestler Omar Sakho (known as Balla Gaye 2) releases a dove for good luck, before a match with Eumeu Sène, at the Demba Diop Stadium.

The Gris-gris Wrestlers of Senegal

Christian Bobst, Switzerland

A tournament in the Adrien Senghor Arena in Dakar nears its end.

The Gris-gris Wrestlers of Senegal

Christian Bobst, Switzerland

People watch a match held as part of Independence Day celebrations.

The Gris-gris Wrestlers of Senegal

Christian Bobst, Switzerland

An assistant prepares a sacrifice to bring luck at a wrestler’s family shrine.

Vetluga's Hockey

Vladimir Pesnya / Sputnik

The match with Tonshaevo takes place.

Vetluga's Hockey

Vladimir Pesnya /Sputnik

HC Vetluga players get ready for a match against the town of Tonshaevo.

Vetluga's Hockey

Vladimir Pesnya / Sputnik

Michael Chukino, HC Vetluga’s goalkeeper, leaves home for a match.

Ebola Survivors Football Club

Tara Todras-Whitehill / The New York Times

Women members of the club practise a sudden-death penalty shoot-out.

Ebola Survivors Football Club

Tara Todras-Whitehill / The New York Times

Erison referees a women’s match.

Ebola Survivors Football Club

Tara Todras-whitehill / New York Times

Bandu Turay (second row from top, fourth from right), Erison’s mother, watches him play, on a field near their house in Kenema. Bandu and Erison were the only two of their immediate family to survive the Ebola epidemic.

Ebola Survivors Football Club

Tara Todras-Whitehill / The New York Times

Erison plays with a member of his extended family.

Haze in China

Zhang Lei / Tianjin Daily

A cloud of smog hangs over Tianjin, in northeastern China. Tianjin, the fourth-most populous city in China, is an industrial and logistics hub. Its port forms a gateway to the national capital, Beijing. Hazardous smog blanketing China’s northeast triggered red alerts in a number of cities throughout the month, including Beijing and Tianjin. Schools were advised to stop classes, and people were told to stay inside and restrict vehicle use.

The Forgotten Mountains of Sudan

Adriane Ohanesian, USA

Adam Abdel (7) was badly burned when a bomb dropped by a government plane landed next to his family’s home, in rebel-held territory in Darfur. Adam was blown out of the house by the force of the blast, and his clothes caught fire. Two weeks later, his burns were still healing. Treatment was hard to obtain, because the government continued to deny NGOs and relief workers access to rebel-held territory.

March Against Police Violence

John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune

Lamon Reccord stares down a police sergeant during a march against police racial violence. Protests had taken place almost daily after the release of a police car dashcam video showing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald being fatally shot by a Chicago police officer. McDonald, who was armed with a knife, was shot 16 times by the officer, who said he feared for his life. The protest was one of a number that occurred throughout the year, following episodes elsewhere in the country where police were accused of using excessive force against black men, often involving fatal shootings.

Talibes, Modern-day Slaves

Mario Cruz, Portugal

Talibes, boys who live at Islamic schools known as Daaras in Senegal. Under the pretext of receiving a Quranic education, they are forced to beg in the streets while their religious guardians, or Marabout, collect their daily earnings. They often live in squalor and are abused and beaten.

Talibes, Modern-day Slaves

Mario Cruz, Portugal

Talibes, Modern-day Slaves

Mario Cruz, Portugal

In the Same Boat

Francesco Zizola / NOOR

Libyan migrants being rescued by the international medical relief organization Doctors Without Borders in the Mediterranean Sea. An overcrowded rubber dinghy sailing from Libya to Italy.

In the Same Boat

Francesco Zizola / NOOR

Migrants climb on board a Doctors without Borders rescue ship to escape their sinking rubber dinghy.

In the Same Boat

Francesco Zizola / NOOR

Migrants wrapped in emergency blankets two days after being rescued catch sight of the Italian coast for the first time.

Emily and Kate and Eddie and Reid

Sara Naomi Lewkowicz / Getty

Although they hadn't planned it, Emily and Kate got pregnant within weeks of each other through artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, respectively. Their sons were born within four days of each other, and the couple embraced the challenge of raising the two babies at once.

Emily and Kate and Eddie and Reid

Sara Naomi Lewkowicz / Getty

Emily holds the newborn baby to meet his new little brother. Reid and Eddie were born only four days apart, despite being due three weeks apart. Both babies had the same donor, making them biological half-brothers. “Oh my god,” Kate said, “we’re…like…a family, suddenly!”.

Emily and Kate and Eddie and Reid

Sara Naomi Lewkowicz / Getty

Emily rubs sleep out of her eyes while feeding Reid, as Kate holds Eddie during a late-night feeding.

China's Coal Addiction

Kevin Frayer / Getty Images

Chinese men pull a tricycle in a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China.

Amazon's Munduruku Tribe

Mauricio Lima / Al Jazeera America

Indigenous Munduruku children play in the Tapajos river in the tribal area of Sawre Muybu, Itaituba, Brazil.

Into the Light

Zohreh Saberi / Mehr News Agency

Raheleh, who was born blind, stands behind the window in the morning. She likes the warmness of the sunlight on her face. Babol, Mazandaran, Iran.

An Antarctic Advantage

Daniel Berehulak / The New York Times

Chilean, Chinese, and Russian research teams in Antartica seek to explore commercial opportunities that will arise once the treaties protecting the continent for scientific purposes expire

An Antarctic Advantage

Daniel Berehulak / The New York Times

A member of a German research team counts the number of penguin species and pairs as part of ongoing research on bird and penguin species in Antarctica.

An Antarctic Advantage

Daniel Berehulak / The New York Times

The winter expedition crew of Russian research team and a Chilean scientist drink Samagon, a homemade vodka, in a bedroom of the Bellingshausen Antarctica base.

Bliss Dharma Assembly

Kevin Frayer / Getty Images

Tibetan Buddhists take part in the annual Bliss Dharma Assembly. The last of four annual assemblies, the week-long annual gathering takes place in the ninth month of the Tibetan calendar and marks Buddha's descent from the heavens. Prayer flags flutter above the city.

Bliss Dharma Assembly

Kevin Frayer / Getty Images

Nuns stand after a chanting session, during the Bliss Dharma Assembly.

Bliss Dharma Assembly

Kevin Frayer / Getty Images

A Tibetan Buddhist nomad woman prepares tea at dusk, following a chanting session.

Citizen Journalism in Brazil’s Favelas

Sebastian Liste / NOOR

Police shootings in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas (urban shantytowns) are so common that they are seldom reported. According to Amnesty International, around 2,000 people are killed every year by Brazilian police, often in a manner that resembles a planned execution. In Complexo do Alemão, one of the largest Rio favelas, residents, frustrated by the lack of traditional media coverage, have formed Papo Reto ("straight talk"), a collective of activists who collate and distribute images and reports through social media.

Citizen Journalism in Brazil’s Favelas

Sebastian Liste / NOOR for The New York Times

Raul, from Papo Reto, photographs the scene where mototaxi driver Diego da Costa Algavez (22) was shot by police, in Vila Cruzeiro favela.

Citizen Journalism in Brazil’s Favelas

Sebastian Liste / NOOR for The New York Times

Complexo do Alemão, viewed from Papo Reto headquarters.

Waiting to Register

Matic Zorman, Slovenia

Refugee children covered in rain capes wait in line to be registered. Most refugees who crossed into Serbia continued their journey north, towards countries of the European Union.

Digging the Future

Matjaz Krivic, Slovenia

Arzuma Tinado (28) leads an eight-member crew of miners at Djuga, an artisanal gold mine in northeastern Burkina Faso. Around 15,000 people work in the area, in pits hacked into the ground, some barely wider than a manhole. As the price of gold fell, people began to dig ever deeper to find enough to make a daily wage. Arzuma works some 20 meters underground. Mining under these conditions is backbreaking labor during which miners are constantly breathing in dust. The subsequent process of extracting the gold exposes them to mercury and cyanide.

Lost Family Portraits

Dario Mitidieri / CAFOD

A Syrian family in a refugee camp in the Beqaa Valley stands beside a chair representing a missing family member. According to UNHCR, by the end of the year, more than 370,000 Syrian refugees were living in camps in the Beqaa Valley, close to the Syrian border.

Exposure

Kazuma Obara, Japan

On 26 April 1986, a nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the town of Pripyat, Ukraine, resulted in large amounts of radioactive material being released into the atmosphere. Radioactive particles — the contaminating effects of which can last for years — were carried downwind through much of the western USSR and Europe. Five months after the disaster, a girl named Mariya was born in Kiev, 100 km south of Chernobyl. She grew up suffering from chronic thyroiditis, one of the results of radiation poisoning. These images represent 30 years of her life. 

Exposure

Kazuma Obara, Japan

Exposure

Kazuma Obara, Japan

La Maya Tradition

Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

The feast of Las Mayas, in Colmenar Viejo, on the outskirts of Madrid, has its origins in pagan ritual. It is held annually at the beginning of May, to celebrate spring. Five or six groups create altars adorned with plants and flowers on the main town square and adjacent streets, and each selects a young girl between the ages of 6 and 15 to be a "Maya". She must then sit on the altar — very still, silent and serious — wearing a white blouse and skirt, and a Manila shawl.

The Maya Tradition

Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

The Maya Tradition

Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

Where the Children Sleep

Magnus Wennman / Aftonbladet

Refugee children, on their long journey to a new home, sleep where they can along the route. Ralia (7) and Rahaf (13) sleep on the streets of Beirut, Lebanon. A grenade killed their mother and brother in Damascus. They are with their father, and have been sleeping outside for a year.

Where the Children Sleep

Magnus Wennman / Aftonbladet

Fara (2) loves soccer. Her father tries to make balls for her by crumpling up anything he can find, but they don’t last long.

Where the Children Sleep

Magnus Wennman / Aftonbladet

Lamar, from Baghdad, sleeps on a blanket in a forest. After two attempts at crossing the sea from Turkey in a small dinghy, her family has come as far as Serbia to find the border with Hungary closed.

Storm Front on Bondi Beach

Rohan Kelly

A massive shelf cloud moves towards Bondi Beach. The cloud was part of a weather front that brought violent thunderstorms, with local media reporting damaging winds, hailstones the size of golf balls, and heavy rainfall. Shelf clouds are low cloud banks often with smooth or layered surfaces, and black, turbulent bases.

Whale Whisperers

Anuar Patjane Floriuk, Mexico

A humpback whale and her newborn calf swim near Roca Partida, the smallest island of the Revillagigedo archipelago, off the Pacific coast of Mexico. During the mating season, the island waters are home to a large population of humpback whales, and are a popular diving destination. The islands are volcanic and are themselves uninhabited, apart from a small naval presence. They were declared a biosphere reserve in 1994, and are currently under consideration as a UNESCO natural heritage site.

The Power of Nature

Sergio Velasco Garcia, Mexico

Colima Volcano erupts with rock showers, lightning, and lava flows. The volcano, which is one of the most active in Mexico, showed an increase in activity from July onwards.

Lightning in volcano eruptions is generated when rock fragments, ash, and ice particles in the volcanic plume collide, producing static charges — just as ice particles do in clouds.

Tough Times for Orangutans

Tim Laman / National Geographic

Orangutans are found in the wild only in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. Sumatran orangutans are on the IUCN Red List as a critically endangered species, with around 7,000 living out of captivity. Borneo orangutans, the world’s largest tree-dwelling animal, are listed as endangered. Numbers of both are decreasing sharply. Orangutans are facing a crisis in habitat, as logging activity, conversion to agriculture, and fires consume their forests. They are also poached for the illegal pet trade. A young male Sumatran orangutan threatens another male, in Batang Toru Forest. Male orangutans are intolerant of other males, and compete for territory and females.

Tough Times for Orangutans

Tim Laman / National Geographic

A young male Bornean orangutan climbs 30 metres up to the crown of a fruiting strangler fig tree to feed, deep in the rainforest in the Gunung Palung National Park.

Tough Times for Orangutans

Tim Laman / National Geographic

Orphan baby orangutans get a ride from their night cages to a patch of forest where they can play for a day, at the International Animal Rescue facility in Ketapang.

Ivory Wars

Brent Stirton / Getty Images Reportage for National Geographic

The trade in poached ivory is financing rebel armed militia across Africa, such as the Lord’s Resistance Army, Seleka rebels of the Central African Republic (CAR), the Janjaweed of Sudan, and the FDLR in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Various national armies actively trade with these groups, and centuries-old Sudanese poaching cartels participate in sending large bands of armed men across borders to kill elephants. Patrols of dedicated rangers around the continent are on the frontline of attempts to thwart the trade.

Ivory Wars

Brent Stirton / Getty Images Reportage for National Geographic

Ranger Dieudonné Kumboyo Kobango stands with his son Genekpio, who escaped soon after being abducted from his village near the park by the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Ivory Wars

Brent Stirton / Getty Images Reportage for National Geographic

Michael Oryem (29) poached elephants with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), operating mainly in the Garamba National Park in DRC. He says he was asked by LRA leader Joseph Kony to take ivory to him in Darfur, Sudan, and that the LRA trades the ivory to the Sudanese Army. Oryem defected from the LRA and helped take Ugandan forces through the border into the Central African Republic to retrieve a stash of ivory he had previously hidden. He is carrying two of the six tusks he hid.

Ivory Wars

Brent Stirton / Getty Images Reportage for National Geographic

Margret Acino (32) was abducted from a field outside her village by the Lord’s Resistance Army, who accused her of informing on them to the Ugandan Army. She was mutilated before being released.

Chameleon Under Pressure

Christian Ziegler / National Giographic

Chameleons are an ancient group of lizards, with more than 170 described species, living in habitats that range from rainforests to deserts, and from sub-tropical coastlines to 4,000-metre-high mountains. According to the Species Survival Commission’s Chameleon Specialist Group, over a third of the world’s chameleon species are threatened with extinction.

Chameleon Under Pressure

Christian Ziegler / National Geographic

Orange panther chameleons, pictured here in captivity, fight. Originally from northern Madagascar, orange panther chameleons are very rare in the wild.

Chameleon Under Pressure

Christian Ziegler / National Geographic

A dominant male of a rare turquoise form of panther chameleon displays its colours.

North Korea: Life in the Cult of Kim

David Guttenfelder / The Associated Press / National Geographic / The New York Times

North Korea has been one of the most isolated and least understood countries. Few outsiders have ever had a glimpse of the country and there have been very few independent photographs ever made there. This series documents urban and rural North Korea, capturing the daily life of its citizens, military events, and ceremonies. At dusk, the skyline of central Pyongyang, North Korea.

North Korea: Life in the Cult of Kim

David Guttenfelder / The Associated Press / National Geographic / The New York Times

A man checks his bicycle next to a painted exclamation point on a propaganda billboard in Kaesong, North Korea.

North Korea: Life in the Cult of Kim

David Guttenfelder / The Associated Press / National Geographic / The New York Times

A soldier, working as a guide, walks through a forest that is said to be a former camp site of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung.

North Korea: Life in the Cult of Kim

David Guttenfelder / The Associated Press / National Geographic / The New York Times

A stage curtain slowly rises as a group of North Korean singers prepare to entertain visiting VIPs at the Mansudae Art Theatre in Pyongyang, North Korea.

A Life in Death

Nancy Borowick, USA

A daughter photographs her own parents who were in parallel treatment for stage-four cancer, side by side. The project looks at love, life, and living, in the face of death. It honours their memory by focusing on their strength and love, both individually and together, and shares the story of their final chapters, within a year of each other. Howie sits beside his wife Laurel in what he calls their “his and hers” chairs as they get their weekly chemotherapy treatments.

A Life in Death

Nancy Borowick, USA

Howie and Laurel Borowick sit next to the bathroom telephone as they hear the most recent news from their oncologist — good scans for both of them.

A Life in Death

Nancy Borowick, USA

Howie Borowick dances in the kitchen to make his wife smile. They often turn to humor to lighten the heavy mood at home.

A Life in Death

Nancy Borowick, USA

Laurel Borowick, Howie’s wife, smiles at him as they spend their last moment together before the casket is closed and the funeral begins.

Sexual Assault in America’s Military

Mary F. Calvert / ZUMA PRESS

The incidence of sexual assault on women by their colleagues in the US Armed Forces is high. Many women see reporting attacks to their commands as difficult or futile. Very few sexual assaults are reported and only a fraction of those get to court. The trauma of a sexual assault, and the ensuing emotional distress, may lead to long-term personal issues. The effects of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) include drug and alcohol dependence, homelessness, and an increased risk of suicide. Challenges for women veterans are not always met by existing vet programs. Women veterans form the fastest growing segment of the homeless population of the US, and are four times more likely to be homeless as other women. Gary Noling stands in his daughter Carrie’s bedroom, on the anniversary of her suicide. She drank herself to death following severe retaliation after reporting her rape to superiors.

Sexual Assault in America’s Military

Mary F. Calvert / ZUMA PRESS

Melissa Bania hangs a banner inscribed with the story of her rape on a footbridge across from Naval Station San Diego, in California. MST survivors had gathered in San Diego to bring attention to rape in the US military.

Sexual Assault in America's Military

Mary F. Calvert / Zuma Press

Melissa A. Ramon moves with her 13-year-old son Sam into a motel she calls "The Jungle". Melissa spent nine years in the Air Force, and suffers from MST and PTSD after sexual abuse from her training instructor and fellow airmen. Since her discharge, she has sought help from the VA and several veteran NGOs, but feels they keep denying her claims, and putting up obstacles. Melissa has frequently been homeless, and has trouble finding shelter because women’s refuges don’t allow boys over 12. She moves with Sam from one unsuitable motel to another.

Sexual Assault in America’s Military

Mary F. Calvert, USA

Melissa A. Ramon cries in the waiting room of an event held to offer safe retreat for homeless veterans. Melissa spent nine years in the Air Force, and suffers from MST and PTSD after sexual abuse from her training instructor and fellow airmen. Since her discharge, she has sought help from the VA and several veteran NGOs, but feels they keep denying her claims, and putting up obstacles. Melissa has frequently been homeless, and has trouble finding shelter because women’s refuges don’t allow boys over 12, and she has a 13-year-old son. She moves with her son, Sam, from one unsuitable motel to another.

The 2016 World Press Photo Exhibition opens on 4 November at Southbank Centre, London. More information on its website.