A photo of a young gay couple in St. Petersburg highlighting the increasingly difficult lives of Russians who identify as LGBTQ won photo of the year at the annual World Press Photo Contest on Thursday.
Judges from the contest who are leading professionals in the field of photojournalism applauded the “humanity” depicted in the photo by Mads Nissen.
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One of the judges, Michele McNally, an assistant managing editor at The New York Times, says, “The mood on their faces is just one of compassion and love and is very, very tender and very beautiful.”
The photo also won first prize in the category of contemporary issues.
Turkish photographer Bulent Kilic won first prize in the spot news category for his photo of a young girl wounded in clashes with riot police last year in Istanbul, Turkey. He also won third prize in the same category of spot news for capturing an air strike against ISIS on the Turkish-Syrian border last October.
This year’s contest introduced a new category called long-term projects. The first prize was awarded to American photographer Darcy Padilla who photographed a woman, Julia Baird, for 21 years.
The World Press Photo Foundation says that this year’s contest included 97,912 entries from 5,692 photographers and photojournalists from 131 countries.
The winner of World Press photo of the year receives a cash prize of 10,000 euros (about $14,000). First prize winners in each category receive a cash prize of 1,500 euros (about $2,000).
AP Photo/Bulent Kilic, AFPA young girl is pictured after she was wounded during clashes between riot-police and protesters after the funeral of Berkin Elvan, a 15-year-old boy who died from injuries suffered during last year's anti-government protests, in Istanbul, Turkey. This photo won the 1st prize in the Spot News Single category of the 2015 World Press Photo Contest
AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILICKilic's won third prize in the spot news category for this photo taken on Oct. 23, 2014 showing ISIS militants standing just before explosion of an air strike near the Turkish border with Syria.
AP Photo/Darcy Padilla/Agence VuThis photo of Julia Baird in a series named: Family Love 1993-2014 – The Julie Project won first place in the new category of long-term projects. For 21 years, Darcy Padilla photographed Julie Baird and her family’s complex story of poverty, AIDS, drugs, multiple homes, relationships, births, deaths.
AP Photo/Ronghui Chen, City ExpressThis photo shows Wei, a 19-year-old Chinese worker, wearing a face mask and a Santa hat, standing next to Christmas decorations being dried in a factory, as red powder used for colouring hovers in the air, in China on June 12, 2014. Photographer Ronghui Chen won second place in the contemporary issues category for this photo.
AP Photo/Sergei Ilnitsky, European Press photo AgencyThis photo that shows a kitchen table after a mortar attack in downtown Donetsk, Ukraine won first prize in the general news category for photographer Sergei Ilnitsky.
AP Photo/Pete Muller/Prime for National Geographic/The Washington PostThis photo shows medical staff at the Hastings Ebola Treatment Center escort a man in the throes of Ebola-induced delirium back into the isolation ward from which he escaped in Hastings, Sierra Leone on Nov. 23, 2014. This photo won first prize for photographer Pete Muller in the category of general news stories.
AP Photo/Bao Tailiang, Chengdu Economic DailyThis photo by Bao Tailiang shows Argentina player Lionel Messi looking at the World Cup trophy during the final celebrations at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on July 14, 2014. It won first place in the sports category.
AP Photo/Yongzhi ChuThis photo by Yongzhi Chu shows a monkey being trained for the circus cowering as its trainer approaches. The photo won first prize in the nature category.
AP Photo/Ami Vitale/National GeographicIn this photo by Ami Vitale, a group of young Samburu warriors encounter a rhino for the first time in their lives in Lewa Downs, Northern Kenya. This photo won second prize in the nature category.
AP Photo/Massimo SestiniThis photo by Massimo Sestini shows shipwrecked people that were rescued, aboard a boat 32 kilometres north of Libya, by a frigate of the Italian navy on June 7, 2014. This photo won second place in the general news category.