Australian photographers recognised in World Press Photo 2024

4 April 2024

World Press Photo has announced its regional winners for 2024, in the annual competition that celebrates the world's best photojournalism. 

Two Australian photographers were recognised: in the Singles category, Eddie Jim (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald) has won for his image Fighting, Not Sinking. In the image, Lotomau Fiafia, a community elder, stands with his grandson John at the point where he remembers the shoreline used to be when he was a boy. Salia Bay, Kioa Island, Fiji, 8 August 2023. 

Southeast Asia and Oceania, Singles. Eddie Jim, The Age/Sydney Morning Herald. The 500-strong community on Kioa Island has grown from a settlement of people who sought refuge in the 1940s from rising sea levels on Tuvalu, an island to the north. Now, their fishing and farming economy is threatened again, as increasingly eroding shorelines mean that they and more than 600 communities around Fiji could be forced to relocate in the coming years. The photographer’s visualisation of sea level rise and portrayal of the affection between generations passing on legacies of stewardship particularly impressed the jury.
Southeast Asia and Oceania, Singles. Eddie Jim, The Age/Sydney Morning Herald. The 500-strong community on Kioa Island has grown from a settlement of people who sought refuge in the 1940s from rising sea levels on Tuvalu, an island to the north. Now, their fishing and farming economy is threatened again, as increasingly eroding shorelines mean that they and more than 600 communities around Fiji could be forced to relocate in the coming years. The photographer’s visualisation of sea level rise and portrayal of the affection between generations passing on legacies of stewardship particularly impressed the jury.

In the Open Format category, Aletheia Casey has won for A Lost Place, described as a striking meditation connecting Australia’s colonial past with its precarious climate future.

The project presents a series of manipulated and recontextualized images, conveying the artist’s personal feelings of frustration and horror in response to the devastating 2019-2020 wildfires in New South Wales.

Southeast Asia and Oceania, Open Format, Aletheia Casey. (Left) A photograph of Callala Bay (Jerrinja and Wandi Wandian Country), Australia, painted and reimagined. Callala Bay and the surrounding area face continual threat of wildfires due to changing environmental conditions. (Right) Birds flying through a landscape afflicted by drought, New South Wales, Australia.
Southeast Asia and Oceania, Open Format, Aletheia Casey. (Left) A photograph of Callala Bay (Jerrinja and Wandi Wandian Country), Australia, painted and reimagined. Callala Bay and the surrounding area face continual threat of wildfires due to changing environmental conditions. (Right) Birds flying through a landscape afflicted by drought, New South Wales, Australia.
Southeast Asia and Oceania, Open Format, Aletheia Casey. Wagga Wagga (Wiradjuri Country), Australia, 11 August 2023. The photograph has been painted with inks by the photographer, and then scratched and re-worked. Wagga Wagga has faced both the threat of wildfires and also serious drought for years.
Southeast Asia and Oceania, Open Format, Aletheia Casey. Wagga Wagga (Wiradjuri Country), Australia, 11 August 2023. The photograph has been painted with inks by the photographer, and then scratched and re-worked. Wagga Wagga has faced both the threat of wildfires and also serious drought for years.

From here, On 18 April, the four global winners, selected from more than 100 regional winners, will be announced in Amsterdam.

The awarded photographs, a small selection of which you can see below, were selected from 61,062 entries by 3,851 photographers from 130 countries.

They were judged first by six regional juries, and the winners were then chosen by a global jury consisting of the regional jury chairs plus the global jury chair - Fiona Shields, Head of Photography at The Guardian. 

After the winner's announcement, the exhibition will travel worldwide, including to Sydney, later this year.

Jury Special Mention, Mustafa Hassona, Anadolu Images. A resident of al-Zahra walks through the rubble of homes destroyed in Israeli airstrikes. The strikes hit around 25 apartment blocks in the university and residential neighborhood. At the time of writing (4 March 2024), Israel’s attacks on the occupied Palestinian territories during the Israel-Hamas war had killed some 30,000 people and injured more than 70,000. Gaza City, Gaza, 19 October 2023.
Jury Special Mention, Mustafa Hassona, Anadolu Images. A resident of al-Zahra walks through the rubble of homes destroyed in Israeli airstrikes. The strikes hit around 25 apartment blocks in the university and residential neighborhood. At the time of writing (4 March 2024), Israel’s attacks on the occupied Palestinian territories during the Israel-Hamas war had killed some 30,000 people and injured more than 70,000. Gaza City, Gaza, 19 October 2023.
Southeast Asia and Oceania, Long-Term Projects, Ta Mwe Sacca Photo VII Foundation, Frontline Club, W. Eugene Smith Grant. Members of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, a rebel militia group, prepare to go to the frontline. Demoso Township, Kayah (Karenni) State, Myanmar, 7 August 2023.
Southeast Asia and Oceania, Long-Term Projects, Ta Mwe Sacca Photo VII Foundation, Frontline Club, W. Eugene Smith Grant. Members of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, a rebel militia group, prepare to go to the frontline. Demoso Township, Kayah (Karenni) State, Myanmar, 7 August 2023.
Southeast Asia and Oceania Stories, Michael Varcas for The Philippine Star. Arnel Satam (54), a fisherman, stands in his tiny wooden boat after being chased by the China Coast Guard in his attempt to enter the lagoon of Scarborough Shoal. 22 September 2023.
Southeast Asia and Oceania Stories, Michael Varcas for The Philippine Star. Arnel Satam (54), a fisherman, stands in his tiny wooden boat after being chased by the China Coast Guard in his attempt to enter the lagoon of Scarborough Shoal. 22 September 2023.
North and Central America, Honorable Mention, Sandra Mehl. A view of Isle de Jean-Charles in southeastern Louisiana, United States, on 28 November 2017. The island has lost 98% of its surface area since 1955. Today, it is just a thin strip of land surrounded by the water of the bayou.
North and Central America, Honorable Mention, Sandra Mehl. A view of Isle de Jean-Charles in southeastern Louisiana, United States, on 28 November 2017. The island has lost 98% of its surface area since 1955. Today, it is just a thin strip of land surrounded by the water of the bayou.
North and Central America, Honorable Mention, Sandra Mehl. A Star Wars themed wedding of Simon and Kristy Naquin. They moved from Isle de Jean-Charles to Gray six months earlier. Gray, Louisiana, United States, 13 May 2023.
North and Central America, Honorable Mention, Sandra Mehl. A Star Wars themed wedding of Simon and Kristy Naquin. They moved from Isle de Jean-Charles to Gray six months earlier. Gray, Louisiana, United States, 13 May 2023.
South America, Long-Term Projects. Pablo E. Piovano, Greenpeace Award GEO National Geographic Society. Juana Calfunao Pailaléf is a Mapuche leader and activist who has been imprisoned several times for defending her people's territorial rights. Cunco, Cautín, Chile, 12 February 2019.
South America, Long-Term Projects. Pablo E. Piovano, Greenpeace Award GEO National Geographic Society. Juana Calfunao Pailaléf is a Mapuche leader and activist who has been imprisoned several times for defending her people's territorial rights. Cunco, Cautín, Chile, 12 February 2019.
Asia, Long-Term Projects, Wang Naigong. This project is a private visual record that aims to explore the concept of family photos. In close collaboration with the family, the photographer tells the story of Jiuer, a young mother of three in northern China who gains more understanding and appreciation for life in her final years after being diagnosed with cancer. Before her surgery, Jiuer invited the photographer to take some family photos, and later, when her condition deteriorated, asked her to record the time she spent with her children. Here, as Jiuer’s condition deteriorates daily, she suggests a family photo. She says: “I can't witness you growing up, so let's take a family photo of how we will look in 20 years.” Liaoning, China, 5 February 2022.
Asia, Long-Term Projects, Wang Naigong. This project is a private visual record that aims to explore the concept of family photos. In close collaboration with the family, the photographer tells the story of Jiuer, a young mother of three in northern China who gains more understanding and appreciation for life in her final years after being diagnosed with cancer. Before her surgery, Jiuer invited the photographer to take some family photos, and later, when her condition deteriorated, asked her to record the time she spent with her children. Here, as Jiuer’s condition deteriorates daily, she suggests a family photo. She says: “I can't witness you growing up, so let's take a family photo of how we will look in 20 years.” Liaoning, China, 5 February 2022.
Africa, Long-Term Projects, Zied Ben Romdhane, Magnum Photos/Arab Fund for Arts and Culture. Members of an electronic music group. A new generation of electronic music groups form dynamic collectives, organizing raves and providing Tunisian youth with a platform for free expression. Tunis, Tunisia, 21 May 2023.
Africa, Long-Term Projects, Zied Ben Romdhane, Magnum Photos/Arab Fund for Arts and Culture. Members of an electronic music group. A new generation of electronic music groups form dynamic collectives, organizing raves and providing Tunisian youth with a platform for free expression. Tunis, Tunisia, 21 May 2023.
Africa Stories, Lee-Ann Olwage for GEO. Dada Paul and his granddaughter Odliatemix get ready for church. He has lived with dementia for 11 years. For much of that time his family assumed he had “gone mad” or attributed the symptoms to alcohol consumption. Only his daughter Fara noticed something different and continued caring for him. Antananarivo, Madagascar, 12 March 2023.
Africa Stories, Lee-Ann Olwage for GEO. Dada Paul and his granddaughter Odliatemix get ready for church. He has lived with dementia for 11 years. For much of that time his family assumed he had “gone mad” or attributed the symptoms to alcohol consumption. Only his daughter Fara noticed something different and continued caring for him. Antananarivo, Madagascar, 12 March 2023.
Asia Stories, Ebrahim Noroozi, Associated Press. An Afghan woman rests in the desert, near a camp housing people recently deported from Pakistan, close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Torkham, Afghanistan, 17 November 2023.
Asia Stories, Ebrahim Noroozi, Associated Press. An Afghan woman rests in the desert, near a camp housing people recently deported from Pakistan, close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Torkham, Afghanistan, 17 November 2023.
North and Central America, Long-Term Projects, Alejandro Cegarra, The New York Times/Bloomberg. Ever Sosa (center) carries his daughter on his shoulders as they cross the Suchiate River from Guatemala to Mexico, joining a caravan of 3,000 migrants and asylum seekers attempting to get to the United States. In 2019, Mexico granted humanitarian visas for a similar caravan, but by 2020, the policy shifted, calling for the dismantling of any caravan. Thus, thousands were forced to reach Mexico by crossing the Suchiate river rather than using the Dr. Rodolfo Robles International Bridge. Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, 20 January 2023
North and Central America, Long-Term Projects, Alejandro Cegarra, The New York Times/Bloomberg. Ever Sosa (center) carries his daughter on his shoulders as they cross the Suchiate River from Guatemala to Mexico, joining a caravan of 3,000 migrants and asylum seekers attempting to get to the United States. In 2019, Mexico granted humanitarian visas for a similar caravan, but by 2020, the policy shifted, calling for the dismantling of any caravan. Thus, thousands were forced to reach Mexico by crossing the Suchiate river rather than using the Dr. Rodolfo Robles International Bridge. Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, 20 January 2023
Asia, Honorable Mention. Zishaan A Latif. Indigenous villagers construct bamboo “porcupines” to counter the erosion caused by the Brahmaputra River. These unconventional structures entangle river weeds and reduce soil damage during monsoons. Tarabari, Barpeta district, Lower Assam, 18 April 2023.
Asia, Honorable Mention. Zishaan A Latif. Indigenous villagers construct bamboo “porcupines” to counter the erosion caused by the Brahmaputra River. These unconventional structures entangle river weeds and reduce soil damage during monsoons. Tarabari, Barpeta district, Lower Assam, 18 April 2023.
Europe, Honorable Mention, Rena Effendi, VII Photo/National Geographic Society. A rare Brahmaea christophi moth (center) displayed in Rustam Effendi’s butterfly collection housed at the Azerbaijan State Institute of Zoology, in Baku, Azerbaijan. Effendi hunted, collected, and preserved lepidoptera from the region for forty years. After he passed away in 1991, much of Effend’s collection – which once contained over 90,000 specimens – was lost or degraded due to neglect.
Europe, Honorable Mention, Rena Effendi, VII Photo/National Geographic Society. A rare Brahmaea christophi moth (center) displayed in Rustam Effendi’s butterfly collection housed at the Azerbaijan State Institute of Zoology, in Baku, Azerbaijan. Effendi hunted, collected, and preserved lepidoptera from the region for forty years. After he passed away in 1991, much of Effend’s collection – which once contained over 90,000 specimens – was lost or degraded due to neglect.
Europe, Honorable Mention, Rena Effendi, VII Photo National Geographic Society. The Satyrus effendi is a rare butterfly species named after Rustam Effendi, a Soviet Azerbaijani entomologist and the photographer’s father. Rustam Effendi collected tens of thousands of butterflies in his lifetime, traveling across what is now the contested borderlands between Armenia and Azerbaijan to hunt and collect specimens. His death in 1991 coincided with the beginning of decades of conflict over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region. The photographer retraces her father’s footsteps for this project, traversing the now war-torn region in search of Satyrus effendi, which flies along the spine of the Zangezur ridge, between two countries in conflict. Fatima and her sister pose for a portrait. Her family settled in a remote outpost of Parağaçay in the Ordubad region of Nakhchivan, which is now an Azerbaijani exclave. Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, 3 August 2023.
Europe, Honorable Mention, Rena Effendi, VII Photo National Geographic Society. The Satyrus effendi is a rare butterfly species named after Rustam Effendi, a Soviet Azerbaijani entomologist and the photographer’s father. Rustam Effendi collected tens of thousands of butterflies in his lifetime, traveling across what is now the contested borderlands between Armenia and Azerbaijan to hunt and collect specimens. His death in 1991 coincided with the beginning of decades of conflict over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region. The photographer retraces her father’s footsteps for this project, traversing the now war-torn region in search of Satyrus effendi, which flies along the spine of the Zangezur ridge, between two countries in conflict. Fatima and her sister pose for a portrait. Her family settled in a remote outpost of Parağaçay in the Ordubad region of Nakhchivan, which is now an Azerbaijani exclave. Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, 3 August 2023.