The World Press Photo Awards honor the best visual journalism worldwide. The past year was not only marked by the pandemic, but also the climate crisis and forgotten conflicts.

World Press Photo of the Year
Along with the top award, Mads Nissen also won in the General News category with his photo of an 85-year-old woman being embraced for the first time in months through a “hug curtain” by a nurse at the Viva Bem care home in Sao Paulo. It is a “rare positive photo about the COVID-19 era,” said the jury. Under President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil is one of the countries most affected by the virus.