WORLD PRESS PHOTO YEARBOOK 2026

A Global Showcase of Photojournalism

For more than 70 years, World Press Photo has recognized the finest in the field of of photojournalism and documentary photography each year, and the World Press Photo Yearbook 2026 contains a captivating selection from the 2026 Contest: images and stories chosen from 57,376 photographs submitted by 3,747 photographers in 141 countries. Stories you’ll recognize, and stories overlooked. Broad perspectives, and intimate insider views. Conflict and crisis, but also resistance, resilience, and hidden traditions.

Photo of the Year 2026

The Photo of the Year and thus the cover of the Yearbook 2026 is Separated by ICE by Carol Guzy, ZUMA Press, iWitness, for Miami Herald.

The Story Behind the Image

This photograph was taken inside one of the few US federal buildings where photographers were granted access—a single hallway where Carol Guzy and others showed up, day after day, to document what was happening. It captures a harrowing moment: a family separated by the state. Luis was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents following an immigration court hearing at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, in New York City, New York, United States, on 26 August 2025. Luis, an Ecuadorian migrant whom his family says has no criminal record, served as the household’s sole provider. His wife Cocha and their three children (aged seven, 13, and 15) were left inconsolable, facing immediate financial hardship and profound emotional trauma.

What Carol Guzy has documented is not an isolated instance, but a policy indiscriminately applied to people who arrive for hearings in good faith. It is evidence and documentation of a government policy being applied systematically to people who followed the rules they were given. This image was selected from a larger body of work by Guzy, ICE Arrests at New York Court, awarded in the Stories category of the North and Central America region.

Voices on the Award

“This award highlights the critical importance of the story worldwide. We bear witness to the suffering of countless families, but also to their grace and resilience that transcends adversity that has been quite humbling. The courage to open up their lives to our cameras, allowed us to tell their stories. And certainly this award belongs to them, not me.”

Carol Guzy, winner of the World Press Photo of the Year in 2026

“This image shows the inconsolable grief of children losing their father in a place built for justice. It is a stark and necessary record of family separation following the US reform policies. In a democracy, the camera’s presence in that hallway serves as a witness to a policy that has turned courthouses into sites of shattered lives — it is a powerful example of why independent photojournalism matters.”

Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo

World Press Photo Yearbook 2026

Hatje Cantz is honored to publish the Yearbook for the fourth time this year in English and German. The publication was designed by photobook designer Sybren Kuiper. In addition to the winning works, the book also contains essays by Joumana El Zein Khoury and Tara Pixley, as well as visual thinking questions, answered by the jury, for in-depth context and reflection.

World Press Photo Exhibition 2026

The images awarded in the 2026 World Press Photo Contest will be shown to millions worldwide as part of World Press Photo’s annual traveling exhibition in over 60 locations around the world. The world premiere of the exhibition opens in Amsterdam at De Nieuwe Kerk on 24 April. More locations will be confirmed throughout the year and added to the calendar page.

• 24 April - 27 September: De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• 3 May - 3 June: University Square, Bucharest, Romania
• 5 May - 28 June: Caixa Cultural, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 6 May - 26 May: Fundación Cajasol, Sevilla, Spain
• 7 May - 7 June: Landesmuseum, Zurich, Switzerland
• 7 - 31 May: Willy-Brandt-Hause, Berlin, Germany
• 7 May - 29 June: Palazzo Esposizioni, Rome, Italy
• 21 May - 14 June: Stadthalle, Balingen, Germany
• 22 May - 15 June: Altonaer Museum, Hamburg, Germany
• 30 May - 21 June: Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane, Australia
• 6 June - 19 July: State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
• 10 June - 30 June: Hotel Pol – Cultural Centre, Sant Julià de Lòria, Andorra
• 25 June - 4 October: Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico City, Mexico
• 14 July - 6 September: Caixa Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil
• 8 August - 20 September: Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, Australia
• 26 August - 12 October: Marché Bonsecours, Montréal, Canada
• 18 September - 15 November: Westlicht, Vienna, Austria
• 18 September - 13 December: Accademia Albertina, Turin, Italy
• Autumn: Bari, Italy
• 25 September - 24 October: Erasmus Huis Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia
• 25 September - 8 November: Museum of Ethnography, Budapest, Hungary
• 25 September - 8 December: Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, Italy
• 26 September - 18 October: Pressen, Copenhagen, Denmark
• 26 September - 25 October: Festival Della Fotografia Etica, Lodi, Italia
• 9 October - 8 November: Studio94, Taipei, Taiwan
• 9 October - 1 November: Zoom Photo Festival, la Pulperie, Chicoutimi, Canada
• 12 October - 31 October: The Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
• 15 October - 15 November: Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria, Spain
• 27 October - 20 December: Caixa Cultural, Curitiba, Brazil
• 30 October - 29 November: Museum Hilversum, Hilversum, the Netherlands
• 30 October - 30 November: Galleria Modernissimo, Bologna, Italy
• 6 November - 13 December: Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
• 26 January 2027 - 21 March 2027: Caixa Cultural, Salvador, Brazil