Photographer John Stanmeyer has been awarded the World Press Photo of the Year for 2013 for an image of immigrants standing on a beach in Djibouti near the Somali border, trying to get wireless connections for their cell phones in an attempt to contact families abroad. Stanmeyer shot the image for National Geographic.
For this win, Stanmeyer will receive an award of 10,000 Euros award this coming April in Amsterdam at the 57th annual Photo of the Year ceremony, sponsored by the World Press Organization.
Stanmeyer, a member of the photo agency VII, also won first prize in the Contemporary Issues category for the same image.
Some other notable photographers who won prizes or were named runners-up in other categories, as either as single images or photo stories, included:
- Sara Naomi Lewkowicz, First Prize, Contemporary Issues Stories, for her series on domestic violence for Time
- Steve Winter, First Prize, Nature Stories, for a series on cougars for National Geographic
- Andrea Bruce, Second Prize, Daily Life Singles, for an image of a soldier's funeral in Syria
- Tyler Hicks, Second Prize, Spot News Stories, for his coverage of the Westgate Mall shooting for The New York Times
- Ezra Shaw, Second Prize, Sports Action Stories, for coverage of the America's Cup sailing race
- John Tlumacki, Second Prize, Spot News Singles, for his photograph of the Boston Marathon bombing, which was published in the Boston Globe
- Peter van Agtmael, Second Prize, People-Observed Portraits Stories, for his story about a wounded Iraq veteran
- Al Bello, Third Prize, Sports Action Singles, for an image of tennis pro Novak Djokovic
- Donald Miralle Jr.,Third Prize, Sports Feature Singles, for an image of divers in Hawaii
- Alyssa Schukar, Third Prize, Sports Feature Stories, for her images of women playing a lingerie football league game.
The World Press Photo Contest honors outstanding photojournalism in several categories, such as Spot News, General News, People in the News, Sports, Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, Arts and Entertainment, Portraits and Nature. Photos by all of the World Press Photo winners will be featured in an exhibition that opens in Amsterdam on April 18, and which will then travel to 100 cities in 45 countries.