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The 2025 World Press Photo of the Year has been revealed. Palestinian photojournalist Samar Abu Elouf took this year’s top prize for his striking portrait Mahmoud Ajjour, Aged Nine. The image shows young Mahmoud, a Gazan boy who lost both arms during an Israeli attack in March 2024. It’s a deeply moving image that captures the enduring cost of war on the youngest and most vulnerable.
A Portrait of Pain And Perseverance
Samar Abu Elouf created his image for The New York Times. He took it in Doha, Qatar, where young Mahmoud was evacuated for treatment. Abu Elouf’s photo reflects not only the physical injuries of war but the psychological wounds that come with it. However, despite everything, Mahmoud is adapting. He is learning to use his feet to play, write, and navigate daily life.
Abu Elouf herself was evacuated from Gaza in December 2023 and now lives in the same Doha complex as the families she photographs. Her bond with the people she documents gives her work a powerful intimacy. She shares one particularly haunting and heartbreaking story along with the photo:
“One of the most difficult things Mahmoud’s mother explained to me was how, when Mahmoud first came to the realization that his arms were amputated, the first sentence he said to her was, ‘How will I be able to hug you?’”
© Samar Abu Elouf, for The New York Times/World Press Photo of the Year 2025
Stories of Migration and Climate Crisis Among the Finalists
The two other finalists for Photo of the Year address pressing global issues with equal poignancy.
Night Crossing by Getty Images’ John Moore depicts Chinese migrants warming themselves after crossing the US–Mexico border. Taken in Campo, California, it tells a layered story of hope, fear, and resilience amid the rise in unauthorized migration from China—driven by economic hardship and political repression. As Moore puts it, “There is a real sense of fear because people don’t know what’s going to happen one day to the next.”
© John Moore, Getty Images/World Press Photo of the Year 2025
Meanwhile, Droughts in the Amazon by Musuk Nolte of Peru and Mexico brings the climate crisis into sharp focus. Capturing an Amazon village cut off by the lowest water levels in over a century, the photo makes climate change uncomfortably tangible. “Photographing this crisis made the global interconnectedness of ecosystems more evident,” says Nolte.
© Musuk Nolte, Panos Pictures, Bertha Foundation/World Press Photo of the Year 2025
A Diverse Celebration of Photojournalism
The 2025 World Press Photo Contest drew over 59,000 entries from 3,778 photographers in 141 countries. From that, 42 winners were selected, representing 30 nations and every continent. It’s a powerful cross-section of the world’s stories—conflict, migration, climate change, resilience, and community.
As Lucy Conticello, global jury chair, said:
“As much as the World Press Photo Contest award is an immense recognition for photographers… it is also a recap of the world’s major events. We were looking for pictures that people can start conversations around.”
See The London Exhibition
The World Press Photo Exhibition 2025 will open at the MPB Gallery in London from May 23 to August 25, 2025. If you’re in the UK , it’s a chance to experience these stories up close, told through the lenses of some of the world’s bravest and most insightful photographers. Tickets are available now via TicketTailor, or theexhibitionists.co.uk.