For nearly 70 years the World Press Photo awards have been regarded as one of the high marks of achievement in photojournalism and documentary photography, celebrating the best in the business over the preceding year.
2022 marked a change, with the World Press Photo Foundation launching a regional strategy to better recognise the efforts and achievements of photographers who sometimes put their lives on the line to bring the most compelling stories to their global audience.
Twenty-four winners and six honourable mentions were selected from over 60,000 entries from 3753 photographers across 127 countries.
The stories they covered included the front lines of conflict, culture, identity, migration and the environment, bringing some of the most pressing issues facing the world today to discerning viewers.
Image 1 of 18: North and Central America, singles winner - The Dying River. A substantial decrease in flow of the Colorado River now requires these workers to provide water for the bees in troughs. Heat and drought weakens bees, making them more susceptible to pathogens and parasites, and impacts the plants from which they feed. Between 2019 and 2020, colonies of bees – vital for pollinating crops – declined by 43.7 per cent across the US. Photo / Jonas Kako/World Press Photo
