The 2025 World Press Photo Contest works with 6 worldwide regions – Africa; West, Central, and South Asia; Europe; North and Central America; South America; and Asia Pacific and Oceania. Entries will be judged in the region in which they have been taken, for example a single photograph taken in Canada would be entered into North and Central America in the Singles category. Find out more about the regions here.
There are three format-based categories: Singles, Stories and Long-Term Projects. These categories welcome entries that witness or document news moments, events and/or aftermaths, as well as social, political and environmental issues or solutions.
These format-based categories encompass all thematic categories from previous contests – such as general news, spot news, contemporary issues, environment, nature, sports, portraits – therefore entries on a wide range of themes may be submitted to the appropriate format-based category.
Singles
- Single frame photographs.
- All singles must have been shot in 2024.
- All singles will be eligible for the World Press Photo of the Year.
Stories
- Stories can contain between 4 and 10 single frame photographs.
- All photographs entered into the stories category must have been shot in 2023 or 2024. At least four photographs in a story must have been shot in 2024.
- All photographs shot in 2024 that are included in the story will be eligible for the World Press Photo of the Year.
Long-Term Projects
- Projects on a single theme containing between 24-30 single frame photographs.
- An entry must contain photographs from at least three different years, and a minimum of six photographs must have been shot in 2024.
- All photographs shot in 2024 that are included in the project will be eligible for the World Press Photo of the Year.
With the 2025 World Press Photo Contest, the Open Format category has been discontinued. You can read more about the changes to the contest in this article. If you have any questions, please contact contest@worldpressphoto.org.
Are you looking for more specific information? Visit one of the following pages to find out more about:
Image credits: Lalo de Almeida, for Folha de São Paulo; Lee-Ann Olwage, for GEO; Daniel Chatard.
