World Press Photo 13

Kari Lundelin
Thames & Hudson

Each year photographers from around the world participate in the World Press Photo Contest, and the results are nothing short of magnificent. Entries are judged by an independent jury comprising experts, and prize-winning images are displayed in an annual exhibition that tours the world.

The stunning photographs are divided into a variety of topics, covering art and entertainment, contemporary issues, daily life, general news, portraits and sport. These categories reflect a plethora of social, political and cultural landmarks, the scope of which encompasses everything from sex tourism to tsunamis and body disfigurement.

The winning image, by Paul Hansen, is paradoxically beautiful and tragic, capturing emotion that appears so flawless that one could easily be mistaken in thinking it had been set up intentionally. Taken in Gaza city amid the Palestinian territories, it depicts the bodies of two dead boys killed in crossfire, carried in plastic bags to the mosque for burial. To say that these photographs are breathtaking is an understatement; the mesmerising talent of each artist must to be seen to be appreciated.

Fiona Martin