2013 World Press Photo Awards: First-Prize Winners

In total, there were nine categories: Spot News, General News, Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, Sports Action, Sports Features, Observed Portrait, Staged Portrait and Nature. Each category, except for Sports Features, had first-prize winners for both single photos and photo stories.

The World Press Photo of the Year award went to Swedish Photographer Paul Hansen, whose snapshot of a funeral march in Gaza also won first prize in the Spot News category. Here are the first-prize winners for the single photos in each category, excluding Sports Features, which only consists of photo stories.

World Press Photo of the Year, Spot News

Photo: Paul Hansen Nov. 20, 2012 -- Gaza Two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and his older brother Muhammad were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. Their father Fouad was also killed and their mother was put in intensive care. Fouad’s brothers carry his children to the mosque for the burial ceremony as his body is carried behind on a stretcher.

Title: "Gaza Burial"

Photographer: Paul Hansen (Sweden)

Date: Nov. 20, 2012

Location: Gaza City, Palestinian Territories

Caption: "Two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and his older brother, Muhammad, were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. Their father, Fouad, was also killed, and their mother was put in intensive care. Fouad’s brothers carry his children to the mosque for the burial ceremony as his body is carried behind on a stretcher."

General News

Photo: Rodrigo Abd 10 March 2012 -- Idib, Syria Aida cries while recovering from severe injuries she received when her house was shelled by the Syrian Army. Her husband and two children were fatally wounded during the shelling.

Title: "Aida"

Photographer: Rodrigo Abd (Argentina)

Date: March 10, 2012

Location: Idib, Syria

Caption: "Aida cries while recovering from severe injuries she received when her house was shelled by the Syrian Army. Her husband and two children were fatally wounded during the shelling."

Contemporary Issues

Photo: Micah Albert 03 April 2012 -- Nairobi, Kenya Pausing in the rain, a woman working as a trash picker at the 30-acre dump, which literally spills into households of one million people living in nearby slums, wishes she had more time to look at the books she comes across. She even likes the industrial parts catalogs. “It gives me something else to do in the day besides picking [trash],” she said.

Title: "At the Dandora Dump"

Photographer: Micah Albert (USA)

Date: April 3, 2012

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Caption: "Pausing in the rain, a woman working as a trash picker at the 30-acre dump, which literally spills into households of 1 million people living in nearby slums, wishes she had more time to look at the books she comes across. She even likes the industrial parts catalogs. 'It gives me something else to do in the day besides picking [trash],' she said."

Daily Life

Photo: Daniel Rodrigues 03 March 2012 -- Dulombi, Guinea Bissau Many young football players around the world touch their first ball on a field of bare dirt. Here a youth group plays on a 'football field' that was the site of military barracks and fields of the former Portuguese colonies in the country.

Title: "Football in Guinea-Bissau"

Photographer: Daniel Rodrigues (Portugal)

Date: March 3, 2012

Location: Dulombi, Guinea Bissau

Caption: "Many young football players around the world touch their first ball on a field of bare dirt. Here, a youth group plays on a 'football field' that was the site of military barracks and fields of the former Portuguese colony in the country."

Sports Action

Photo: Wei Seng Chen 12 February 2012 -- Batu Sangkar, West Sumatra, Indonesia A jockey, his feet stepped into a harness strapped to the bulls and clutching their tails, shows relief and joy at the end of a dangerous run across rice fields. The Pacu Jawi (bull race) is a popular competition at the end of harvest season keenly contested between villages.

Title: "Joy at the End of the Run"

Photographer: Wei Seng Chen (Malayasia)

Date: Feb. 12, 2012

Location: Batu Sangkar, West Sumatra, Indonesia

Caption: "A jockey, his feet stepped into a harness strapped to the bulls and clutching their tails, shows relief and joy at the end of a dangerous run across rice fields. The Pacu Jawi (bull race) is a popular competition at the end of harvest season keenly contested between villages."

Observed Portrait

Photo: Nemanja Pancic 27 February 2012 -- Belgrade, Serbia Milan Ponjiger survived a fall from the sixth floor, but his mother and father did not. “We jumped from our balcony because we had big financial problems,” he said. The economic crisis in Serbia has been going on since early 1990, as a result of the war in the former Yugoslavia.

Title: "Little Survivor"

Photographer: Nemanja Pancic (Serbia)

Date: Feb. 27, 2012

Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Caption: "Milan Ponjiger survived a fall from the sixth floor, but his mother and father did not. 'We jumped from our balcony, because we had big financial problems,' he said. The economic crisis in Serbia has been going on since early 1990 as a result of the war in the former Yugoslavia."

Staged Portrait

Photo: Nadav Kander 04 January 2012 -- London, UK British actor Daniel Kaluuya.

Title: "Daniel Kaluuya"

Photographer: Nadav Kander

Date: Jan. 4, 2012

Location: London, UK

Caption: "Actor Daniel Kaluuya."

Nature

Photo: Chritsian Ziegler 16 November 2012 -- Black Mountain Road, Australia The endangered Southern Cassowary feeds on the fruit of the Blue Quandang tree. Cassowaries are a keystone species in northern Australian rainforests because of their ability to carry so many big seeds such long distances.

Title: "Southern Cassowary"

Photographer: Christian Ziegler (Germany)

Date:Nov. 16, 2012

Location: Black Mountain Road, Australia

Caption: "The endangered Southern Cassowary feeds on the fruit of the Blue Quandang tree. Cassowaries are a keystone species in northern Australian rainforests because of their ability to carry so many big seeds such long distances."