We have the utmost respect for the journalists who are documenting Russia’s war on Ukraine and protests in Georgia for the world to see, often doing so with great risks and difficulties. This is especially true for photographers who both live and work in these countries. War and political conflict has come to them, and they choose to document it.
Background on our judging process
Every entry is judged anonymously. Jury members do not know the identity of the photographers or who they work for. In later rounds of judging, some limited information like nationality and gender are shared.
In each of the six regions of our contest model (Africa; Asia-Pacific and Oceania; Europe; North and Central America; South America; and West, Central and South Asia), a large selection of entries per category is first made by a regional jury. Each regional jury is composed of five professionals from and/or working in that region, with a range of expertise.
Once the regional juries have made their selection of entries, their work is done. The global jury (composed of the six regional jury chairs, plus a global jury chair) makes the final decision on 42 winners and from those entries, the World Press Photo of the Year. The global jury’s rationale for each decision is recorded in a jury report.
Global jury statement on Ukraine projects
The global jury and World Press Photo apologise for describing these two works,
Underground Field Hospital by Nanna Heitmann and
Beyond the Trenches by Florian Bachmeier, as paired. There is an obvious difference between a child suffering from the effects of war, and the suffering of a soldier from the invading forces, which are causing this suffering.
According to the United Nations, as of 21 February 2025, “more than 12,654 civilian men, women, girls, and boys have been killed, and over 29,392 injured” since Russia began its full scale invasion. Eighty-four percent of these casualties were in Ukraine controlled territory. Ukrainian energy infrastructure, medical facilities, homes, and school buildings have also been attacked. This is important context when viewing both of these photos that we should have emphasized.
There is room for complexity when discussing these two photographs. However, it must start with an acknowledgement of the reality facing the people of Ukraine in order to be a useful discussion.
Therefore, at the global jury’s request we have edited the official jury report, and reflected these changes on our website.
Global jury chair, Lucy Conticello, said:
"We should not have presented these two photos as a pair as it suggests they should be viewed and understood only in dialogue with one another. Doing so creates an overly simplified and false equivalency, and sidelines the story that each one of them deploys on its own. Those stories; meanwhile, only point to two aspects of the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine.”
Please see also the updated jury report and additional jury perspectives.
Award for Mikhail Tereshchenko’s coverage of protests in Georgia
Again, it is important to acknowledge the context in which these photographs were made. Georgia was also invaded by Russia in 2008, with part of its territory seized, and is under continued political pressure. The ruling party has copied Russia in passing laws restricting civil society, and police have attacked protesters who have taken to the streets to dispute the validity of the re-election of the pro-Russian ruling party. According to Reporters Without Borders, police have attacked journalists covering these protests “with shocking impunity”.
In this context, many Georgian photographers are angry that a Russian photographer working for a Russian state controlled news agency, which is credibly criticized as lacking independence, has been awarded for covering these protests.
The uncomfortable fact is that the awarded project was selected for its own merits - regardless of the identity of the photographer or their employer (which are not shared with the jury), or the views of the photographer. This entry was awarded in accordance with World Press Photo’s judging criteria.
The authenticity of the photographs themselves, and the events they document are not in question. Wherever we share these photographs we will also ensure they have accurate and truthful captions - thanks to our team of writers, researchers, and fact checkers.
We will look to improve our rules and procedures for dealing with entries from photographers working for state controlled agencies. In doing so, we will consult photographers working in places like Georgia and Ukraine, as well as photographers working in places with repressive regimes who are often trying to do good work in their own difficult situations.
In our 70 years of existence, this is a topic that has come up repeatedly. From the Vietnam war to Iraq and Afghanistan, China to Iran, and many other countries - how can photographers tell authentic stories despite the restrictions put on them? How much information should juries have about who made these stories, compared to judging each entry blindly on the observable quality of the work?
We cannot say we have the perfect answers to these questions. According to the rules of the 2025 World Press Photo Contest, both the global and regional jury judged all entries anonymously, without knowing the identity of the photographer or their employer.
With the changing times and contexts, our rules and procedures need to continue to evolve and adapt. We are committed to learning and improving.
Executive Director World Press Photo, Joumana El Zein Khoury said:
“I hear those saying World Press Photo should reverse the jury’s decision, and it is true that we make a choice not to do so. However, if we disregard or retroactively change our rules in this case, what do we do for the next case or the one after that?
We will work to improve our rules and procedures, but must always apply them fairly and without exception. Our contest has a global reach and its rules need to be applicable to very different contexts. Any change of rule to reflect one specific context will also have implications for very different ones. Therefore changes to the rules need to be done with a lot of care, research and consultation.”
Responding to Mikhail Tereshchenko’s use of the phrase “liberation of Mariupol”
World Press Photo does not agree with the phrase ‘liberation of Mariupol’ made in an interview with the winning photographer on 27 March 2025 to describe the Russian forces occupation of that city.
- Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, on 24 February 2022.
- Russian bombardment devastated Mariupol, and included civilian targets such as a maternity hospital and a theater where people were sheltering.
- Mariupol remains under Russian occupation.
- The city is important to the Russian government as part of a land bridge between the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and Crimea, which Russia had illegally annexed in 2014.
While the Russian government and TASS have disputed some of these statements, we consider them simple facts.
Note: This statement was posted 1 April 2025. A previous version may be found here.
