World Press Photo has revealed its 2025 Photo of the Year, selecting an emotionally charged image that encapsulates the devastating human toll of conflict. Chosen from over 59,000 photographs submitted by nearly 3,800 photographers worldwide, the top honor was awarded to Palestinian photojournalist Samar Abu Elouf, based in Doha, for her gripping portrait taken for The New York Times.
Mahmoud Ajjor has a modest goal: to receive prosthetic limbs and live like other children. By the end of 2024, the United Nations estimated that Gaza had the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world. Copyright: © Samar Abu Elouf, for The New York Times
The image features young Mahmoud Ajjour, a Palestinian boy severely injured while fleeing an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in March 2024. As he urged his family to move faster, a blast tore through the street, leaving him with one arm amputated and the other heavily damaged. The portrait not only documents a harrowing personal story but also offers a powerful visual testimony to the broader suffering endured by civilians in the region.
Elouf, herself evacuated from Gaza in late 2023, now resides in the same apartment complex as Mahmoud. In recent months, she has continued to document the experiences of Gazans who have survived traumatic injuries and sought medical treatment outside the conflict zone.
Alongside her award-winning photograph, two other finalists were honored: John Moore’s Night Crossing, showing Chinese migrants huddled at the US-Mexico border, and Musuk Nolte’s Droughts in the Amazon, portraying a son delivering food to his mother in a parched Amazonian village.
Moore’s image of Chinese migrants warming themselves after a rainstorm, at the US-Mexico border, captures a moment of vulnerability that contrasts with how migration is depicted in mainstream talking points. Copyright: © John Moore, United States, Getty Images
A young man carries food to his mother in Manacapuru, a village in the Amazon that was once accessible by boat. Now, the river has dried up due to drought, and he walks several kilometers across the cracked riverbed. A harsh reality: the world’s largest rainforest increasingly resembles a desert. Copyright: © Musuk Nolte, Peru/Mexico, Panos Pictures, Bertha Foundation
All three works will be featured in the World Press Photo’s annual traveling exhibition, which will visit over 60 cities, beginning in Amsterdam and continuing through major cultural centers like London, Berlin, and Rome.
