The World Press Photo Exhibition will display the 2026 edition of the Oscars of Photography at Rome's Palazzo delle Esposizioni till June 29.

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From 7 May to 29 June 2026, the 69th edition of World Press Photo returns to Rome at Palazzo delle Esposizioni.

The exhibition, created by the , promoted by Roma Culture and organised by Azienda Speciale Palaexpo in collaboration with 10b Photography, will showcase the finalist photographs of the prestigious photojournalism award, which since 1955 has honoured professional photographers every year for their best images, helping to build the history of the world’s finest visual journalism.

For this edition, the global and regional juries, composed of international experts, reviewed 57,376 photographs and projects submitted by 3,747 photographers from 141 countries. This year’s edition presents 42 projects, 9 more than last year, with three winners in each category per region and one long-term project winner per region.

The Photo of the Year is Separated by ICE, taken by American photographer Carol Guzy for the Miami Herald. The image, captured inside the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York, documents the moment a man is detained by immigration agents after a hearing, separating him from his family. The photograph was awarded for its ability to make visible, in a direct and deeply human way, the impact of migration policies: not as an isolated case, but as a systemic condition affecting people who turn to institutions in good faith.

Joumana El Zein Khoury, Executive Director of World Press Photo, said:

“This image shows the inconsolable grief of children losing their father in a place built for justice. It is a raw and necessary testimony to family separation following United States reform policies. In a democracy, the presence of the camera in that corridor becomes an act of witnessing: it tells the story of a policy that has turned courtrooms into places of shattered lives. It is a powerful example of why independent photojournalism matters.”

Two other finalist photographs ultimately gave way to this powerful portrait of family separation. The first is Aid Emergency in Gaza by Saber Nuraldin (EPA Images), which shows Palestinian civilians climbing onto an aid truck in an attempt to obtain food. The photograph was selected for its compositional strength and its ability to convey the urgency of famine, transforming a scene of chaos into visual evidence of the humanitarian crisis and its global implications.

The second finalist is The Trials of Achi Women by Victor J. Blue (The New York Times Magazine), a collective portrait of Indigenous Maya Achi women who survived violence during Guatemala’s civil war. Taken outside a courthouse, the image was recognised for its measured approach and its ability to restore dignity and authority to its subjects, documenting a historic moment of justice after decades of impunity.

Chantal Pinzi is the only Italian photographer awarded in this edition, taking first place in the Stories category for the Africa Region with her project ‘Farīsāt: Gunpowder’s Daughters’. The photographs tell the story of a group of women in Morocco who take part in Tbourida, a historic patriarchal equestrian tradition (pictured above). For centuries, Tbourida was an exclusively male activity, but female riders have continuously fought for inclusion since the reform of Morocco’s family code strengthened women’s legal rights.
Today, seven all-female groups perform out of a total of around 300 participating teams. These farīsāt, or female riders, bear significant personal costs, financing their own horses, costumes and gunpowder permits. Their perseverance is a powerful affirmation of women’s rightful place in Moroccan heritage.

One of the most striking images is undoubtedly Polar Bear on Sperm Whale by Roie Galitz: a female polar bear feeds on the carcass of a sperm whale on the polar ice pack north of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago on 8 July 2025. The photograph bears witness to the severity of global warming: this latitude is unusually far north for sperm whales, which favour temperate waters around the world and tend to stay away from ice.

The judging of the World Press Photo Contest 2026 took place between January and February 2026. The selection was first carried out by six regional juries, after which the winners were chosen by an independent global jury.

Kira Pollack, chair of the 2026 global jury, said:

“Photojournalism has never been easy work. It has never been profitable, nor safe, nor guaranteed an audience. And yet, photographers go. They go to courtrooms and conflict zones, to the quietest corners of the world, where history is being written without witnesses. They do it because they believe that seeing matters. That evidence matters.”

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