World Press Photo 2025
Singles
Assassination attempt on Donald Trump
Jabin Botsford
The assassination attempt on Donald Trump and the media coverage that followed are considered to have marked a turning point in the presidential campaign that would define not only the election, but also the political future of the United States. Right after the shooting, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee defiantly shouted, “Fight, fight, fight!” as he was escorted off the stage. This particular image, captured seconds after the assassination attempt, shows an unusual and spontaneous moment of fragility in a campaign focused on vitality and strength.
Graphic Reports
The shadows already have names
Samuel Nacar
Syria’s long-running civil war reached a turning point on December 8, 2024, when, after two weeks of advances, rebel forces seized the capital, Damascus, with little resistance, toppling President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year regime. Rebel forces immediately began releasing prisoners from an extensive network of detention centers, the core of which was the feared Sednaya military prison. Survivors’ accounts revealed the scale of the Assad regime’s systematic detention, torture and clandestine execution of opponents, transforming its already ruthless prison system into a weapon of war.
Graphic Reports
Crisis in Haiti
Clarens Siffroy
Haiti is experiencing a marked increase in gang violence. Since the assassination of President Moïse in 2021, armed groups have multiplied and violence has intensified. In the country, there are some 300 active criminal groups, which control a territory with 2.7 million Haitians. Gang violence, which reaches levels comparable to those of war, includes killings, disappearances, torture, arson and systematic sexual violence, especially against women and children. This crisis is deeply rooted in Haiti’s colonial past, slavery and the devastating independence debt imposed by France, which stoked long-term inequalities. This project, photographed by a resident of Port-au-Prince, captures the human factor behind the statistics of the ongoing crisis.
Graphic Reports
Jaidë
Santiago Mesa
The Emberá Dobida are a nomadic indigenous people of Colombia who have historically lived on the banks of the Bojayá River. Many of them have migrated to Bogotá to flee conflict between Colombia’s paramilitary forces, in search of safety and new opportunities. In the capital, they are forced to face discrimination and marginalization, and live in overcrowded and insecure conditions. According to data from the Bellavista Church in Bojayá, suicides in the Emberá community have increased dramatically, from 15 cases between 2015 and 2020 to 67 suicides and more than 400 attempts in 2024. This project follows the lives of the women of the community affected by the crisis, to give visibility and empathy to a harsh reality.
Graphic Reports
Livingstone’s Elephant Charmers
Tommy Trenchard
In recent years, in Livingstone, Zambia, there has been a rapid escalation of human-wildlife conflict due to a succession of insufficient rainy seasons and human encroachment on lands traditionally occupied by elephants. During the dry season, elephants enter Livingstone in search of food and plunder gardens and orchards. These interactions can be dangerous when residents harass and scare animals. In 2024, at least eleven people died in the city from elephants. A group of three volunteers, the Elephant Response Team, works to keep both people and elephants safe. Although the work is demanding and dangerous, they are motivated by love for their community and these animals.
Long-term project
Women’s Bodies as Battlefields
Cinzia Canneri
In 2017, Cinzia Canneri began documenting the experiences of Eritrean women fleeing their country’s repressive government. Since the outbreak of war in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia in 2020, her work also includes the stories of Tigrayan women fleeing armed invasion. Both groups have been subjected to systematic sexual violence (rape, shooting, torture) which, due to social stigma, lack of access to health services and restrictions on journalists, continue to go uncovered by the media. By giving voice to and presenting survivors’ stories, this project reinterprets the idea of resilience as a complex collaborative challenge against pain, trauma, and loss.
Links:
Book: blume.net/fotografia/2615-world-press-photo-2025-9788410469518.html
