37 Photos That Define 2026, According To World Press Photo

For four decades, a group of Indigenous Maya Achi women in Rabinal lived in the same communities as the men who had raped them, sometimes as neighbors. Guatemala’s civil war led to the genocide of thousands of Maya Achi people by the military and local state-backed paramilitary forces, who used sexual violence as a systematic weapon to subjugate Indigenous communities. In 2011, 36 women broke their silence, launching and winning a 14-year legal battle against their abusers. Their collective resilience is transforming a legacy of wartime impunity into a historic victory for justice.

About the photo:
"Doña Paulina Ixpatá Alvarado stands with other Achi women outside a Guatemala City court. That afternoon, three ex-civil defense patrollers were found guilty of rape and crimes against humanity and sentenced to 40 years in prison each. Guatemala City, Guatemala, 30 May 2025."

A massive fire at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in Tai Po claimed 168 lives, becoming Hong Kong’s deadliest fire since 1948. While no official cause has been reported, investigations by Hong Kong authorities found that bamboo scaffolding, construction netting, and flammable Styrofoam boards on windows acted as accelerants for the fire, trapping residents inside. More than 2,000 firefighters were involved in rescue efforts, killing one and injuring twelve.

About the photo:
"Mr. Wong cries out in anguish as fire engulfs the Tai Po housing complex he calls home. Moments earlier, he phoned his wife, who was trapped in the building, and they exchanged what would be their final words. Hong Kong, 26 November 2025."

Tbourida is a UNESCO-recognized Moroccan equestrian tradition dating back to the 16th century. Troupes gallop in unison, firing rifles in a choreographed performance of cavalry warfare. Historically excluded, female riders have fought for inclusion since Morocco’s 2004 family code reforms strengthened women’s legal rights. Today, seven all-female troupes now ride among some 300. These farīsāt (horsewomen) bear significant personal costs, funding their own horses, costumes, and gunpowder permits. Their perseverance stands as a powerful claim to women’s rightful place in Moroccan cultural heritage.

About the photo:
"Ghita Jhiate manages her unruly stallion. Long forbidden by her father to participate in Tbourida, she finally realized her dream of riding alongside pioneer Zahia Aboulait in 2025. Sidi Rahal, Morocco, 6 August 2025."

Polar bears are primarily seal predators, but as ice retreats in the summer and hunting becomes harder, they increasingly rely on opportunistic scavenging. Near Svalbard, the ice-free season has lengthened by 20 weeks in the last 30 years. Sperm whales typically avoid ice-covered polar waters, so this carcass was a rare sight. Scientists speculate that after dying, the male sperm whale drifted north, carried by winds and currents. The photographer spent two days observing the scene from a small boat, capturing it by drone to reveal a scale difficult to grasp from sea level.

About the photo:
"A female polar bear feeds on a sperm whale carcass in the polar pack ice north of the Norwegian archipelago, Svalbard. 82° North, International Waters, 8 July 2025."

In 2025, shifts in US immigration policy transformed courthouses into focal points for mass deportation efforts by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Masked ICE agents detained undocumented migrants immediately following their hearings, often leading to deeply traumatic family separations. These aggressive tactics, coupled with severely overcrowded and unsanitary conditions at the 10th-floor holding facility in the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York, prompted fierce public protests, class-action lawsuits, and the arrest of local elected officials demanding accountability.

About the photo:
"Distraught girls cling to their father, Luis, as ICE detains him following an immigration hearing. Luis served as the sole breadwinner for his family. New York City, New York, United States, 26 August 2025."

When Typhoon Wipha hit the Philippines and flooded Barasoain Church, Jade Rick Verdillo and Jamaica Aguilar faced a difficult decision: should they cancel their wedding or proceed with the marriage? The couple carried on despite high waters, a testament to love and resilience in the face of severe weather. Located on a delta, Bulacan province is vulnerable to more frequent and extreme floods caused by aging drainage systems, dredging projects, overextraction of groundwater, and climate change.

About the photo:
"Bride Jamaica Aguilar prepares to enter the flooded Barasoain Church for her wedding. The Barasoain Church, a national landmark, is situated in a region where nearly 75% of the population is exposed to flooding hazards.
Malolos, Bulacan province, Philippines, 22 July 2025."

Tens of thousands of Kenyan women migrate to Saudi Arabia for domestic work, where many endure abusive conditions, including passport confiscation and withheld wages. While working there, Edith Magomere Ingasiani hid her pregnancy; unmarried women who give birth risk arrest. She delivered her daughter Blessings alone in January 2016, raising her in the shadows for years. When Edith tried to return home to Kenya, Blessings’ lack of documents trapped them in bureaucratic limbo. In 2024, they finally made it back. “Home is always the answer,” she says. “It took eight years to get there.”

About the photo:
"Edith Magomere Ingasiani and her daughter Blessings Iminza (9), at their home. Blessings was born in Saudi Arabia without a birth certificate. Vihiga County, Kenya, 30 August 2025."

In January 2025, severe drought and 100-mph (roughly 160-kph) Santa Ana winds fueled 14 devastating wildfires across Los Angeles, destroying over 18,000 buildings and displacing 200,000 residents. While officials reported 31 direct fatalities, public health studies estimate 440 excess deaths linked to toxic smoke and disrupted medical care. In the disaster's aftermath, a stark wealth divide has defined recovery efforts, with lower-income residents facing displacement while wealthier communities leverage private resources to rebuild.

About the photo:
"A man walks past a business ruined by fire. The Eaton Fire heavily impacted working-class neighborhoods, where many underinsured homeowners now face gentrification and displacement. Altadena, California, United States, 8 January 2025."

Engla Louise, a former dancer, has lived with severe anorexia nervosa since she was ten years old. At 46, she weighs less than 25 kilograms and has been tube-fed since 2019. Researchers increasingly describe anorexia as a disease of both body and mind. Its causes – not fully understood – are thought to involve neurobiological, genetic, and environmental factors. After decades of treatment, Engla Louise is now considered therapy-resistant and receives palliative care at home. This project aims to broaden the discussion about care for people living with severe eating disorders.

About the photo:
"Engla Louise’s “bed ballet” – movements performed lying down – keeps her connection to dance alive. Every day at a specific time, she watches ballet on her iPad. Linköping, Sweden, 22 December 2025."

Recent population estimates suggest that fewer than 2,000 pandas remain in the wild, and only a few dozen individuals live within Wanglang National Nature Reserve’s 323-square-kilometer territory. This rare sighting was made possible through a pilot exchange program between the National Geographic Society and wildlife biologists, aimed at supporting wildlife monitoring efforts and fostering cross-cultural cooperation in conservation. Established in 1965, Wanglang is one of China’s oldest wild panda nature reserves and today serves as a key site for education and scientific research collaboration within the larger Giant Panda National Park system.

About the photo:
"A wild giant panda is captured by a camera trap in the Wanglang National Nature Reserve. Sichuan, China, 11 November 2025."

A government ban of 26 social media platforms on 4 September 2025 was the breaking point for Nepal’s youth. On 8 September, thousands took to the streets, part of a generation of young people around the world refusing to accept systems that perpetuate corruption, unemployment, and economic hardship. Within two days, 76 people were dead, most of them young demonstrators killed by police. Thousands more were injured. On 9 September, following Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s resignation, protesters stormed and set fire to Singha Durbar, the historic complex at the heart of Nepal’s government.

About the photo:
"Fire and smoke engulfed Singha Durbar after protesters stormed and set the government complex alight during violent demonstrations. Kathmandu, Nepal, 9 September 2025."

Diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer at age 25, Tanner Martin and his wife, Shay, raced to build a family despite a terminal prognosis. This intimate story documents the final months of Tanner’s life, culminating in the birth of his daughter, AmyLou, just 41 days before his death at age 30. His experience puts a human face on a staggering global trend: people born in 1990 now face a 200 to 300% increased risk of some early-onset cancers compared to previous generations.

About the photo:
"Shay and Tanner view sonogram images of their daughter during a prenatal checkup. Tanner’s one last wish was to fight cancer long enough to see his baby. Provo, Utah, United States, 15 April 2025."

Ukraine’s battle against the Russian invasion is reshaping modern combat. Hobby drones are being repurposed into remote-controlled weapons, and mass-produced first-person-view (FPV) drones are piloted from kilometers away with deadly precision. These developments have triggered an unrelenting drone arms race and turned vast areas of Ukraine into “k*** zones”. Civilians are targeted and displaced, and soldiers spend most of their time in underground bunkers or basements, unable to be resupplied or casualty-evacuated. This story documents Ukraine's efforts to advance its drone capabilities, and the impact of Russian drone attacks on civilians.

About the photo:
"Ukrainian civilians, their identities concealed behind masks, assemble FPV drones in a basement factory. Both Ukraine and Russia now manufacture millions of battlefield drones a year. Central Ukraine, 6 September 2024."

Germany’s care homes are facing two crises: staff shortages and loneliness. A 2023 study found that one in five residents aged 80 and older describe themselves as “severely lonely.” This reality has prompted trials of social robots like Emma, developed by a Munich-based startup. Waltraud, a resident of Haus im Wiesengrund in Albershausen, had her doubts but over time formed a bond with Emma. “When she tells her jokes, that’s really good. That’s my kind of humor,” says Waltraud, though she emphasizes that human contact is always preferable.

About the photo:
"Waltraud talks with Emma, a social robot that recognizes faces and remembers past conversations. Though skeptical at first, Waltraud says she felt connected to Emma over time. Albershausen, Germany, 3 July 2025."

On 21 November 2025, the Karen National Liberation Army captured Shunda Park, a massive cyber-scam compound in Myanmar’s Karen State. As the country’s civil war intensifies, lawless border regions have become hubs for a lucrative online scam industry. Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have been trafficked into Southeast Asia and forced into labor for these illegal enterprises. When rebel forces ousted the junta-allied militia guarding the park, thousands of workers from 30 nations were stranded in Myanmar.

About the photo:
"Offices in Shunda Park were left in disarray after a surge of fighting between the Myanmar military and the opposition militia nearby. Some parts of the complex resembled professional executive suites; others trapped workers in a “Sisyphean loop” of 12-hour shifts. Min Let Pan, Myanmar, 5 December 2025."

More than 30,000 residents of Wadi El-Qamar, also known as Moon Valley, in western Alexandria, Egypt, live less than 15 meters from a cement factory that fills their homes with toxic dust. Children are born with asthma. Families suffer from lung disease and irreversible respiratory damage. In 2016, the photographer – who lives nearby and has asthma himself – began documenting their stories and ongoing legal battles.

About the photo:
"Amal holds an X-ray of her lungs. She moved to Moon Valley at three years old and developed asthma within months. Alexandria, Egypt, 31 January 2018."

Colombia has the world’s highest rate of single mothers. The photographer and his family experience this reality not as a statistic but as a “recurring wound.” In 1999, Ferley Ospina’s father was murdered in the border region of Norte de Santander, forcing him to flee with his mother. Photographing the women in his extended family, Ospina seeks to understand the “weight of absence” and the systemic and personal impact of “growing up incomplete.”

About the photo:
"Valeria (5) plays behind a curtain at her aunt’s house. She is raised solely by her mother. In her region, 30% of households are headed exclusively by women. Los Patios, Norte de Santander, Colombia, 10 September 2025."

2025 was a record year for wildfires in Europe. More than 200,000 hectares burned across Galicia during Spain’s worst fire season in about three decades. The increasingly severe fires in this region are attributed to drought and heat intensified by climate change, rural depopulation, and shortsighted forest management policies, including the widespread planting of highly flammable non-native species. Born in Ourense, the photographer grew up with the smell of smoke every summer and has documented Galician wildfires since 2011.

About the photo:
"A man fights a wildfire with a branch in Cualedro. When resources are stretched, residents use whatever is available to extinguish flames, including branches, farming tools, and water hoses. Ourense, Galicia, Spain, 15 August 2025."

In 2025, civilians in Gaza endured starvation, famine, and relentless bombardment as the death toll surpassed 75,000 and Israeli authorities severely restricted the flow of humanitarian aid. A ceasefire agreement in October has yet to bring meaningful relief. Palestinian journalists – living through the reality they document – are the world’s few witnesses to what a UN Commission has concluded is a genocide. Israel disputes this. The photographer worked under immense danger, driven by a refusal to let the world turn away. “Even when everything around me told me to stop, I couldn't – silence would mean surrender.”

About the photo:
"The Mushtaha Tower collapses in a military strike, amid hundreds of makeshift tents sheltering displaced Palestinians, as Israel’s offensive on Gaza City intensified. Gaza Strip, 5 September 2025."

In 1996, Argentina approved genetically modified, herbicide-resistant soybeans paired with glyphosate-based herbicides, a policy adopted without independent research. In three decades, pesticide use skyrocketed from 40 million to 580 million liters annually. Today, 60% of Argentina’s cultivated land is sprayed, affecting 14 million people. Despite independent studies linking exposure to increased risks of cancer and congenital malformations, regulations continue to loosen even as agrochemical usage moves closer to human settlements. This project documents the human cost of an economic model that prioritizes agro-industrial profit over the lives of its rural citizens.

About the photo:
"Anita Sosa, born with hydrocephalus and spina bifida, plays with her sister. Doctors attributed her condition to pesticides used in the soybean fields that surround her town of 3,000 inhabitants. Chaco, Argentina, 29 November 2014."