The twentieth edition of the most renowned exhibition in the field of global photojournalism can be seen at the CCCB, the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona.

The exhibition features a total of 129 photographs, mostly taken in 2023, including the 24 winning projects. Some of the main themes of this edition include the environmental crisis, such as the wildfires in Australia and Canada, the drought in the Amazon, or the earthquake in Turkey and Syria; international armed conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine; humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and Ethiopia; as well as issues related to gender and mental health care. The exhibition also includes recurring topics that remain relevant, such as migration and social inequality.

“The exhibition brings together the winning photographs and multimedia productions from the World Press Photo 2024competition.”

20 years of World Press Photo in Barcelona

Over the 19 previous editions of the exhibition in Barcelona, more than 1.65 million visitors have attended, attesting to the event’s consolidation in the city as a key occasion aimed at raising awareness about current events and global challenges, as well as promoting visual education and critical thinking.

Global Awards

The World Press Photo 2024 competition featured the participation of 3,851 photographers from 130 countries and 61,000 photographs. The competition has 24 regional winners and 4 global winners (chosen from the regional winners), in addition to 6 honorary mentions and 2 special mentions.

The winners come from 25 countries: Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Myanmar, Palestine, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela.

Photo of the Year

The Photo of the Year award went to Palestinian photographer Mohammed Salem, for his poignant image that illustrates the horror of war for civilians, showing the consequences of the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.

At the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, Israel instructed the residents of Gaza to head south for safety. However, according to reports from The Guardian and Al Jazeera, since mid-October, the Israeli Air Force had heavily bombarded Khan Yunis, located in the southern Gaza Strip.

Many of the casualties were families who had left Gaza City just days before. According to OHCHR, by the end of 2023, more than two-thirds of those killed in the Gaza Strip were Palestinian women and children.

The photographer describes this image, taken just days after his own wife gave birth, as a “powerful and sad moment that encapsulates the broader sense of what was happening in the Gaza Strip”.

In 2010, Mohammed Salem had already received a World Press Photo award for another image related to the same conflict.

Long-Term Project

The Long-Term Project award was given to Venezuelan photographer Alejandro Cegarra for Los dos muros (“The Two Walls”) for The New York Times/Bloomberg.

Since 2019, Mexico has gone from being a country that welcomed migrants and asylum seekers at its southern border to one that enforces strict immigration policies similar to those of the United States. U.S. foreign and immigration policies, COVID-19 protocols, and political and economic turmoil in South and Central America have all contributed to the current crisis at Mexico’s borders. These factors expose migrant families to violence, corruption, and dire conditions in border cities.

Inspired by his own experience as a migrant from Venezuela to Mexico in 2017, Alejandro Cegarra began this project in 2018 to document the plight of these deeply vulnerable migrant communities, highlighting their resilience with respect and sensitivity.

Open Format

The Open Format award went to Ukrainian photographer Julia Kochetova for “The War is Personal”. This web project, with a style resembling a personal diary, shows the world what it’s like to live with war as a daily reality. The project combines photojournalism, poetry, illustration, and music.

Given the tens of thousands of civilian and military victims and the deadlock situation that has lasted for months, there is no prospect of peace in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. While the media reports on the situation through statistics and maps, and international attention turns elsewhere, the photographer has created a website that merges photojournalism with a personal documentary diary to show the world what it is like to live with war on a daily basis.

North America and Central America Regional Photojournalism

The competition also recognized the work of Spanish photographer Jaime Rojo (Madrid, 1981), with a World Press Photo in the category of North America and Central America Regional Photojournalism for his extensive report titled “Saving the Monarchs” for National Geographic.

The story focuses on efforts by communities in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico to save the monarch butterflies, a species that migrates across these countries.

Since the mid-1990s, the population of these butterflies has declined by 80% due to the expansion of industrial agriculture along their migratory route and, more recently, climate change, which has destroyed both their breeding habitats and the milkweed, the sole food source for their larvae.

The World Press Photo jury described the story as “beautiful but powerful”, symbolizing unity in polarized times, and offering a solution-oriented perspective on climate change and environmental conservation.

The four global winners of World Press Photo 2024 were selected from the 24 regional winners, who in turn were chosen from over 61,000 photographs submitted by 3,851 photographers from 130 countries.

Tribute to the Murdered Journalists

As a new feature, this year’s exhibition includes an installation in defense of press freedom, which features a memorial honoring more than 1,000 journalists killed between 2005 and 2023.

Of these 20 years, 2023 was the deadliest for professional journalists, with their deaths confirmed as reprisals for their work, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Additionally, according to the same organization, the war between Israel and Hamas is one of the deadliest conflicts in history for the media. From October 2023 to March 2024, the war had already claimed the lives of 94 journalists and media workers (89 Palestinians, two Israelis, and three Lebanese).

“The climate crisis and wars are the main themes.”

For more information, you can visit this link.

About the Photographic Foundation

The Photographic Foundation manages and preserves the Joana Biarnés Archive as its owner. It also represents the photographic archives of Eugeni Forcano, Ferran Freixa, Jacques Léonard, Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol, Oriol Maspons, and Leopoldo Pomés, and provides advisory services for the archive of Mey Rahola. The foundation also represents photographers Anna Turbau, Isabel Azkarate, and Manuel Outumuro, and supports over 70 photographers who are members of the Foundation.

In 2019, the Photographic Social Vision Foundation created the Joana Biarnés Grant for Young Photojournalists, which is now in its sixth edition. This annual grant honors the memory of the country’s first female photojournalist, fulfilling her wish that the benefits generated by the use of her work should help strengthen the future of photojournalism.

Since 2021, the Photographic Foundation has also organized the Star Photobook Dummy Award, an annual international prize for photobook dummies, which has just concluded its fourth edition.

Since its inception, the Photographic Social Vision Foundation has also been involved in social action and visual education projects with schools and various groups. Among these is the project “Material Sensible”, aimed at survivors of childhood sexual abuse, offering them the expressive language and transformative power of photography as support for their therapeutic processes. This project has already resulted in four exhibitions, a series of educational capsules for students aged 14 and up, and a documentary available on the platforms Filmin and Caixaforum+.

Additionally, the Photographic Foundation promotes and participates in national photojournalism initiatives such as Archivo Covid and the Platform for a National Center for Photography and Image.

Highly recommended.

(*) Photos provided by the CCCB. Credits: Cover photo by Jaime Rojo, for National Geographic, “Saving the Monarchs,” Mexico, February 24, 2023; Fixed photo 1: Adriana Loureiro Fernandez, The New York Times, “Red Skies, Green Waters,” Punta de Mata, Venezuela, November 5, 2022; Fixed photo 2: Adriana Loureiro Fernandez, for The New York Times, “Red Skies, Green Waters,” Cabimas, Venezuela, November 24, 2022; Slider photo 1: Ebrahim Noroozi, Associated Press, “Afghanistan on the Brink,” Torjam, Afghanistan, November 17, 2023; Slider photo 2: Zied Ben Romdhane, Magnum Photos/Arab Fund for Arts and Culture/AIM, Umm Al Arais, Gafsa, Tunisia, October 17, 2015; Slider photo 3: Lee-Ann Olwage, GEO, “Valim-babena”; Slider photo 4: Mustafa Hassouna, Anadolu Images, “Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza,” Gaza City, October 19, 2023; Vertical photo: Mohammed Salem, Reuters, “A Palestinian Woman Holds Her Niece’s Body,” Khan Yunis, Gaza, October 17, 2023.

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