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Nominees announced for World Press Photo 2019

A shortlist of six images have been announced for this year’s World Press Photo of the Year, and three photographers shortlisted for a new award that celebrates visual storytelling – the World Press Story of the Year.

The six images shortlisted for World Press Photo of the Year are: Victims of an Alleged Gas Attack Receive Treatment in Eastern Ghouta by Mohammed Badra (Syria); Almajiri Boy by Marco Gualazzini (Italy); Being Pregnant After FARC Child-Bearing Ban by Catalina Martin-Chico (France/Spain); The Disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi by Chris McGrath (Australia); Crying Girl on the Border by John Moore (United States); and Akashinga – the Brave Ones by Brent Stirton (South Africa).

The three nominees for the World Press Story of the Year are Marco Gualazzini (Italy), Pieter Ten Hoopen (Netherlands/Sweden), and Lorenzo Tugnoli (Italy) – making Gualazzini the first photographer to have been nominated for both the World Press Photo of the Year and the World Press Story of the Year. 

Women gather water from the lake © Marco Gualazzini, Contrasto

In The Lake Chad Crisis, Gualazzini documents the desertification of what was once one of Africa’s largest lakes, and a lifeline to over 40 million people in the continent. As a result of unplanned irrigation, drought, and deforestation, the size of Lake Chad has decreased by 90 per cent over the last 60 years, causing water shortages and conflict between local groups and farmers.

Pieter Ten Hoopen’s The Migrant Caravan tells the story of thousands of Central American refugees who travelled to the US border in October and November 2018. The caravan was organised by a grassroots social media campaign, and was the largest migrant caravan in recent memory with as many as 7000 travellers, including at least 2300 children, according to the UN.

Lorenzo Tugnoli has been nominated for The Yemen Crisis, published in The Washington Post. Tugnoli photographed the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where, according to the UN, more than 8.4 million people are at risk of starvation, and 22 million people – 75% of the population – are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

Yorladis is pregnant for the sixth time, after five other pregnancies were terminated during her FARC years. She says she managed to hide the fifth pregnancy from her commander until the sixth month by wearing loose clothes. © Catalina Martin-Chico, Panos

Also nominated are three single images and three stories in each of the eight categories: Contemporary Issues, General News, Environment, Nature, Long-Term Projects, Portraits, Spot News, and Sports. The nominees for the Long-Term Projects, for example, are: Sarah Blesener (USA) for the series Beckon Us From Home, a look at youth organisations; Alejandro Cegarra (Venezuela) for State of Decay, a story on unrest in his home country; and Yael Martinez (Mexico) for The House That Bleeds, which shows the photographer’s own family as it comes to terms with the loss of three young men killed or disappeared in Guerrero, Mexico’s poorest and most violent state.

This year, the contest saw 4,738 photographers from 129 countries, who entered a total of 78,801 images. Out of 43 nominated photographers, 14 are female – a 20% rise from 2018. Lars Boering, managing director of the World Press Photo Foundation, said: “As the need for images and stories we can trust has never been greater, we are proud to recognise these visual journalists and digital storytellers, and look forward to sharing their work with the world.”

The contest was judged by a jury of 17 professionals from six global regions, with an equal number of men and women. Whitney C. Johnson, deputy director of photography at National Geographic, was the chair of this year’s general jury, which also included Japanese curator Yumi Goto; Nana Ko Acquah, Ghanaian photographer for Getty Images; and Paul Moakley, editor at large for Special Projects at TIME.

The winners will be announced on 11 April at the awards show in Amsterdam. Both the World Press Photo of the Year and the World Press Photo Story of the Year awards carry a cash prize of 10,000 euros, and the prize-winning photographs will be assembled into a year-long exhibition that will visit 100 cities in 45 countries.

www.worldpressphoto.org

An orphaned boy walks past a wall with drawings depicting rocket-propelled grenade launchers, in Bol, Chad. From The Lake Chad Crisis
© Marco Gualazzini, Contrasto
Wounded people receive treatment after the suspected gas attack on al-Shifunieh, 25 February 2018 © Mohammed Badra, European Pressphoto Agency
An unidentified man tries to hold back the press on 15 October, as Saudi investigators arrive at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, amid a growing international backlash to the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi © Chris McGrath, Getty Images
Petronella Chigumbura (30), a member of an all-female anti-poaching unit called Akashinga, participates in stealth and concealment training in the Phundundu Wildlife Park, Zimbabwe. © Brent Stirton, Getty Images
People run to a truck that has stopped to give them a ride, outside Tapanatepec, Mexico, on 30 October 2018. Some drivers charged to give travelers a lift for part of the way, but most offered services free as a sign of support. From The Migrant Caravan © Pieter Ten Hoopen, Agence Vu/Civilian Act
A father and son sleep after a long day’s walking, Juchitán, 30 October 2018 © Pieter Ten Hoopen, Agence Vu/Civilian Act
Wafa Ahmed Hathim (25) lost her left leg when a mortar landed on her house in the strategically important Red Sea port of Hudaydah on 8 December—at a time when long-negotiated peace talks were taking place in Sweden. From Yemen Crisis © Lorenzo Tugnoli, Contrasto, for The Washington Post
Taif Fares gasps for air in the intensive-care unit at al-Sadaqa hospital, Aden, on 21 May. She had a heart disorder and required constant care. Supplies of oxygen and medicine to the hospital had been discontinued, and, on 14 May, a violent confrontation between a member of the militia controlling the hospital and a doctor had led to doctors going on strike. Taif died a few days after the photograph was taken © Lorenzo Tugnoli, Contrasto, for The Washington Post
Students compete at the “Inspection of Singing and Marching” competition at the gymnasium of School #6 for students in the Dmitrov region, a suburb of Moscow, Dmitrov, Russia, 14 Dec 2016. From the series Beckon Us From Home © Sarah Blesener
From the series State of Decay © Alejandro Cegarra
Digno Cruz (my father-in-law) crying at home while talking about his missing grandsons, Guerrero Mexico. The discovery of several mass graves during the search of the 43 normalistas Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, shows the magnitude of the crisis of enforced disappearances in the country. The goverment have found 60 clandestine graves in the cities of Iguala-Taxco with at least 129 bodies (20 women and 109 men). None of them belonged to the 43 normalistas missing in Iguala during the month of September 2014. Official figures show that in recent years there have been 30,000 disappearances and Guerrero is one of the Mexican States worst affected. Guerrero Mexico on November 3, 2014. From the series The House That Bleeds © Yael Martinez
Marigold Warner

Deputy Editor

Marigold Warner worked as an editor at BJP between 2018 and 2023. She studied English Literature and History of Art at the University of Leeds, followed by an MA in Magazine Journalism from City, University of London. Her work has been published by titles including the Telegraph Magazine, Huck, Elephant, Gal-dem, The Face, Disegno, and the Architects Journal.