Riveting winning images in the World Press Photo contest

 

View a collection of some of the winning images from the 55th annual World Press Photo contest for 2011 announced on February 10, 2012. The winners were selected from over 100,000 images submitted by more than 5,000 photographers from around the world.

 
February 10, 2012 10:17 AM
 
 
 
World Press Photo of the Year 2011: A woman holds a wounded relative on October 15, 2011, during protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen. Photo by Samuel Aranda/AFP/Getty Images
 

World Press Photo of the Year 2011: A woman holds a wounded relative on October 15, 2011, during protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen. Photo by Samuel Aranda/AFP/Getty Images

Photograph by: SAMUEL ARANDA, AFP/Getty Images

 
World Press Photo of the Year 2011: A woman holds a wounded relative on October 15, 2011, during protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen. Photo by Samuel Aranda/AFP/Getty Images
First prize in Spot News Singles: For weeks, rebels held out against Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi with the hope that the world would come to their aid. Defiance faded as the dictator’s planes and tanks began to retake what had been dubbed Free Libya. These are rebels in Ras Lanuf, Libya, on March 11, 2011. Photo by Yuri Kozyrev/Reuters
Second prize in Spot News Singles: An Afghan Shia Muslim cries on December 5, 2011, near dead and injured people after explosions during a religious ceremony in the centre of Kabul. Photo by Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images
Second prize in Spot News Stories: Trying to avoid the killer’s bullets, many people jumped into the cold water in Utoya, Norway, on July 22, 2011. Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people on the small island of Utoya. Photo by Niclas Hammerstrom/Reuters
First prize in News Stories: Tsunami survivor Chieko Matsukawa holds her daughter’s graduation certificate that she found in debris in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi prefecture on April 3, 2011. Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images
Second prize in News Singles: Protesters are arrested during a demonstration against police tactics and income inequality in New York City on October 25, 2011. Photo by Tomasz Lazar/Reuters
First prize in General News Singles: Protesters cry, chant and scream in Tahrir Square after listening to the speech in which Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he would not give up power in Cairo, Egypt, on February 10, 2011. Photo by Alex Majoli/Reuters
Second prize in General News Stories: The devastating 9.0-magnitude earthquake that hit the northeast coast of Japan triggered hugely destructive tsunami waves of up to 38 metres that struck Japan traveling up to 10 kilometres inland. Photo by Paolo Pellegrin/Reuters
First prize in Portraits Singles: Iranian-born Danish actress Mellica Mehraban, 27, shown here in Copenhagen on May 4, 2011, learned firsthand about the culture of her native country after taking the leading role as a villain in the spy drama ‘Fox Hunting.’ She followed a regime-approved script, she was required to wear a head scarf in all scenes, forbidden from swearing and learned to show that she was in love with a man without telling him or touching him. Photo by Laerke Posselt/Reuters
Second prize in Portraits Stories: New Afghan police recruits are shown at the German police training centre in Kunduz, Afghanistan. All are illiterate; they are farmer sons from rural areas who never had any education and are joining the police for economic reasons. Their loyalty to the government is thin. A police officer earns around $170 per month, and due to harsh living and working conditions and the high risk of being killed by the Taliban, many decide to leave the police force before their contract ends. Photo by Ton Koene/Reuters
Second prize in Sports Singles: A rugby match between Old Belvedere and Blackrock is played in heavy rain in Dublin, Ireland, on February 5, 2011. Photo by Ray McManus/Reuters
Second prize in Sports Stories: Divers practise during the 14th FINA World Championships at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China, on July 17, 2011. Photo by Adam Pretty/Reuters
First prize in Arts and Entertainment Stories: Marika Bajur sings ‘Kuriu’ in the restaurant Eurasia. The southern Russian city of Sochi lies on the Black Sea and attracts predominantly Russian holiday-makers who come for a mix of sun, sea, sand and nightlife. Restaurants are plentiful and competition is fierce, with every restaurant employing a regular live musician blasting Russian chansons and popsa. Photo by Rob Hornstra/Reuters
Second prize in Arts and Entertainment Singles: A model poses in front of tailor stalls in the centre of Dakar, Senegal, on July 9, 2011. She wears the creation of a designer, Yolande Mancini, participating in the 9th edition of Dakar Fashion Week. Photo by Vincent Boisot/Reuters
First prize in Nature Singles: A male polar bear climbs precariously on the face of a cliff above the ocean at Ostrova Oranskie in northern Novaya Zemlya, Russia, on June 30, 2011, attempting to feed on seabird eggs. This bear was marooned on land and unable to feed on seals - its normal prey - because sea ice had melted throughout the region and receded far to the north. Photo by Jenny E. Ross/Reuters
First prize in Nature Stories: A female rhino is shown in Tugela Private Game Reserve, Colenso, Natal, South Africa, on November 9, 2011, that four months earlier survived a brutal dehorning by poachers who used a chainsaw to remove her horns and a large section of bone in that area of her skull. The female rhino survived the dehorning and has joined up with a male bull who now accompanies her. Rhino horn is now worth more than gold on the international market. South Africa alone has lost more than 400 rhinos to illegal poaching incidents in 2011. The demand for rhino horn is fueled by a wealthy Asian middle- and upper-class and is used overwhelmingly as medication. Photo by Brent Stirton/Reuters
First prize in Daily Life Singles: This is a picture of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il-sung, decorating a building in the capital Pyongyang on October 5, 2011. Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters
First prize in Daily Life Stories: Marcos, 89, leads Monica, 87 from their room to the living room. Although at times he grumbles about the time devoted to her care, Marcos did not see any other possibility. “Tell me where she is going to be better than here. I treat her like a princess, here she has everything.” They have been married and living in their apartment in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for 65 years. In 2007, Monica was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Since that moment, her husband devoted all his time to take care of her. Photo by Alejandro Kirchuk/Reuters
First prize in Contemporary Issues Singles: Maria, a drug addict and sex worker, is photographed between clients in a room she rents in Kryvyi Rig, Ukraine, on August 31, 2011. Maria injects drugs on a daily basis and sees many men every week but claims she remains HIV negative. She says she needs the money to support herself, her drug habit and her nine-year-old daughter. Photo of Brent Stirton/Reuters
First prize in Contemporary Issues Stories: Tahani (in pink), who married her husband Majed when she was 6 and he was 25, poses for this portrait with former classmate Ghada, also a child bride, outside their mountain home in Hajjah Hajjah, Yemen, on June 10, 2011. Nearly half of all women in Yemen were married as children. Child marriage is outlawed in many countries and international agreements forbid the practice, yet this tradition still spans continents, language, religion and caste. Photo by Stephanie Sinclair/Reuters
 
 
 
 
 

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