Gaza, Ukraine, migration, and political polarization in World Press Photo 2025 exhibition

Cast your mind back to 2024. What were the biggest news stories around the world that year? 

The conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, the environmental crisis, migration, and political polarization are some of the main themes of the 2025 World Press Photo exhibition, now on display at the Barcelona Contemporary Culture Center (CCCB) until December 14.

The exhibition presents a total of 144 photographs, most of which were taken during 2024.

The displayed works also deal with issues related to migration in Iran and the border between the United States and Mexico.

Political polarization is also another major theme, including the assassination attempt on US President Donald Trump, the opposition campaign against Maduro in Venezuela, the growth of the far right in Germany, and the repression of political expression in Russia.

The overall winner of World Press Photo of the Year was Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf, whose winning image, ‘Mahmoud Ajjour, nine years old’, shows the portrait of a child who was left without arms after fleeing an Israeli attack in Gaza.

Speaking to the Catalan News Agency (ACN), Samar Abu Elouf called the achievement a "dream," but regretted that the image is "so sad," and pointed out that this is the realirt for milloins of children in Gaza.

Catalan photographer Samuel Nacar won in the Stories category for the West, Central and South Asia region for his report 'The Shadows Already Have Names' in Syria in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime for Revista 5W. 

His photographs narrate the tortures suffered by some survivors of Syrian prisons during the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad, and explained that violence and fear are increasingly a “form of control.”

This year, the photojournalism competition celebrates its 70th anniversary in operation.