Zuzia - Staged Portraits, 3rd
Zuzia, sensitive to sunlight due to her albinism, attends a special school for partially sighted children and dreams of meeting someone like herself. (Image: Anna Bedynska)
Whale Sharks - Nature, 3rd
Whale sharks have roamed the oceans for 60 million years, yet we know little about their reproduction, social behaviour, and migrations, says photographer Thomas Peschak.
Warm Up - Sports Action, 2nd
In the Sports Action category Youngzhi Chu came second for this shot of young male gymnasts stretching as a girl jumps onstage at a school in Zhejiang.
Victims of Forced Love - Observed Portraits, 1st
Somayeh Mehri, 29, and her three-year-old daughter Ra’na live in a small town in Iran. Somayeh’s husband, Amir Afghanipour, a thief and drug addict, poured a bucket of acid on his wife and child while they slept. (Image: Ebrahim Noroozi)
The Pink Choice - Contemporary Issues, 1st
Vietnam has historically been unwelcoming to same-sex relationships. But its Communist government is considering recognizing same-sex marriage, a move that would make it the first Asian country to do so. (Image: Maika Elan)
The Golden Touch - Sports Action, 2nd
"Years of training, thousands of battles, and hundreds of victories prepared fencing competitors for the opportunity to stand on the piste at the 2012 London Olympic Games to fight for gold." (Image: Sergei Ilnitsky)
The Cage - Nature Stories, 2nd
Animals caged in the Wenzhou Zoo, China. (Image: Xiaoqun Zheng)
Synchronized Swimmer - Sports Action, 3rd
A swimmer soars above the water in the London 2012 synchronized swimming competition. (Image: Wei Zheng)
Sumo Wrestler - Sports Feature, 2nd
The life-long discipline, harsh physical training, and preparation for the fight can explain the half-god status of Sumo in Japan today. (Image: Denis Rouvre)
Sudan Border Wars - General News, 3rd
A Sudan Armed Forces soldier lies dead in a pool of oil next to a leaking oil facility.
Southern Cassowary - Nature, 1st
The endangered Southern Cassowary feeds on the fruit of the Blue Quandang tree on Black Mountain Road, Australia. (Image: Christian Ziegler)
School for Less Fortunate - Contemporary Issues, Honorable Mention
Every morning, children from a nearby slum in New Delhi arrive in small groups, barefoot and carrying mats and brooms and start cleaning a portion of a land under a metro rail bridge, which will be their school for the rest of the afternoon. (Image: Altaf Qadri)
Pool Hall Attack - Contemporary Issues, 2nd
The bodies of Lesbia Altamirano and Wilmer Orbera lie on the floor of a pool hall after being attacked by unidentified masked assailants in Choloma, Honduras. (Image: Esteban Felix)
Pepper Spray - General News, Honourable Mention
Israeli border officers pepper spray an injured Palestinian protester during clashes on Land Day outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City on 30 March last year. (Image: Ammar Awad)
People of Mercy - Staged Portraits, 1st
Boubacour Diallo, 18, has a tumour in his head. “I am born like this. This hump has always been there. It is God’s will. People sometimes laugh at me, but that doesn’t bother me. I am an honest Muslim. I don’t fear death.” (Image: Stephan Vanfleteren)
Pacified Favela - Daily Life, Honourable Mention
With the World Cup coming to Rio in 2014, and the Olympics in 2016, politicians are trying to clean up and pacify the favelas in Rio de Janeiro. (Image: Frederik Buyckx)
Natalia - Contemporary Issues, Honourable Mention
Natalia Gonzales, a 15-year-old crack user, poses for a portrait in an area known as 'Crackland' in the Manguinhos slum, Brazil. (Image: Felipe Dana)
Mournful - Staged Portraits, 2nd
In different Shiite areas, mourning for Moharam takes various forms. n this ceremony on the ninth day of Moharam, the first and most important Shiite month, women from different classes gather barefoot - traditionally wearing black mourning clothes - with covered faces and go to 40 different pulpits called 'saqa–khaneh'. (Image: Ebrahim Noroozi)
Miss My Parents So Much - Staged Portraits, 3rd
Wu Mingjie, aged 4, lives in Zhangmu where 21 children were left behind as their parents went elsewhere to work.
Mirella - Daily Life Stories, 1st
Rome resident Mirella, 71, spent 43 years of her life with the only person she loved. And when her husband Luigi was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, she devoted her life to him as his caregiver. (Image Fausto Padavini)
Mirella - Daily Life Stories, 1st
Alzheimer’s is the most common kind of senile dementia, which involves losing cognitive capabilities (thought, memory, reasoning). However, losing mental abilities doesn't mean also losing sensitivity. Mirella understood this well, and often hugged and kissed her husband, especially in the tougher moments. (Image Fausto Padavini)
Mirella - Daily Life Stories, 1st
Rome resident Mirella, 71, spent 43 years of her life with the only person she loved. And when her husband Luigi was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, she devoted her life to him as his caregiver. (Image Fausto Padavini)
Mimin - Nature, 2nd
One of the monkeys trained to entertain motorists along busy intersections in the Central Java City, Indonesia. (Image: Ali Lutfi)
Migrant Sex Workers - Daily Life Stories, 2nd
For nearly 20 years, the women of Benin City, a town in south-central Nigeria, have travelled to Italy to work in the sex trade. Every year, successful ones recruit younger girls to follow in their steps. Here, Sharon sits on her makeshift bed in Rome. (Image: Paolo Patrizi)
Martin - Observed Portraits, 3rd
After living with his father for ten years and staying in a youth shelter, Martin, 18, returned home two years ago to live with his mother in Tilburg, the Netherlands. He arrived with some clothes in a bag and no work or education. (Ananda Van der Pluijm)
Lone Chaw Lethwei Gym - Sports Feature, 3rd
Lethwei is an unarmed Burmese martial art similar to styles of Indochinese kickboxing. Lone Chaw, 31, a three-time Myanmar National Champion opened a gym to pass on his skills to the younger generation. (Image: Vittore Buzzi)
London 2012 - An Overview - Sports Action, 3rd
Andrea Baldini of Italy celebrates defeating Yuki Ota of Japan to win the gold medal match 45-39 in the Men's Foil Team Fencing finals at London 2012 (Image: Chris McGrath)
London 2012 - An Overview II - Sports Action, 3rd
Mi Gyong Choe (left) of North Korea competes against Monika Ewa Michalik of Poland during their Women's Freestyle 63 kg Wrestling match at London 2012. (Image: Chris McGrath)
Little Survivor - Observed Portraits, 1st
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. (Image: Nemanja Pancic)
Life in War - Contemporary Issues, 2nd
A member of the Taliban shields his face from the photographer in Ghondouz, Afghanistan. (Image: Majid Saeedi)
Life in War - Contemporary Issues, 2nd
Zahra, 20, burned herself four years ago. Women are in a subordinate position in Afghan society, where conservative Islamic laws and tribal traditions dictate what they are allowed to do. Forced marriages, domestic violence, poverty, and lack of access to education are said to be some of the main reasons for self-immolation. (Image: Majid Saeedi)
Kayla - Observed Portraits, 3rd
American Girl is a popular line of dolls that can be customized to look exactly like their owners. Kayla poses with her lookalike doll against a portrait of her ancestors in Boston. (Image: Ilona Szwarc)
Joy at the End of the Run - Sports Action, 1st
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 in west Sumatra, Indonesia. (Image: Wei Seng Chen)
Interrogation - Spot News, 2nd
Scenes of interrogation in Aleppo, Syria. (Image: Emin Ozmen)
In the Shadow of Wounded Knee
Oglala youths hold an upside-down flag, an international symbol of distress and an act of defiance toward the US government, at a rally to commemorate the 1975 shoot-out between American Indian Movement (AIM) activists and FBI agents. Two agents and one AIM member died. The image was taken at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. (Image: Aaron Huey)
I just want to dunk - Sports Feature, 1st
In Mogadishu, the war-torn capital of Somalia, young women risk their lives to play basketball. Suweys, the 19-year-old captain of a women's basketball team, and her friends defy radical Islamist views on women's rights. They have received many death threats from not only al-Shabaab militias and radical Islamists, but some male members of their own families. " I just want to dunk," said Suweys. It is on the basketball court she feels happiest. "Basketball makes me forget all my problems.” (Image: Jan Grarup)
Gaza - Spot News, 1st
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike in Gaza City on 18 November 2012. (Image: Bernat Armangue)
Football in Guinea-Bissau - Daily Life, 1st
A youth group plays on a 'football field' that was the site of military barracks and fields of the former Portuguese colonies in Dulombi, Guinea Bissau. (Image: Daniel Rodrigues)
Emperor Penguins - Nature Stories, 1st
Ross Sea, Antarctica. (Image: Paul Nicklen)
El Salvador Gangs - Daily Life Stories, 3rd
An anti-gang police unit searches for gang members in San Salvador last August. (Image: Tomás Munita)
Daniel Kaluuya - Staged Portraits, 1st
Actor Daniel Kaluuya. (Image: Nadav Kander)
Cross Country Steeplechase - Sports Action, 1st
Jockeys at the Velká pardubická in Kolesa, Czech Republic, one of the oldest and most challenging steeplechases in Europe. (Image: Roman Vondrous)
Collaborator - Spot News, 3rd
Palestinian gunmen ride motorcycles dragging the body of a man who was killed earlier as a suspected collaborator with Israel. (Image: Adel Hana)
Bullfighter's Comback - Observed Portraits, 2nd
Padilla adjusts his 'montera', or bullfighter hat, before a bullfight in a southwestern Spanish town. The 38-year-old Spanish matador who is also known by his professional name of 'the Cyclone of Jerez', lost sight in one eye and has partial facial paralysis. Five months after his injury, he returned to the bullring. (Image: Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
Bonnie - Observed Portraits, 2nd
Since the age of 18, Bonnie Cleo Andersen has been working as a prostitute, a profession legal in Denmark since 1999. Now 38, she owns a house in a village where she runs a brothel by herself. She had a hard and violent childhood and has gone to prison more than once. Today, her only goal is that her children will have a better life than hers. (Image: Marie Hald)
Barcelona Demonstrations - Contemporary Issues, 3rd
Mireia Arnau, 39, reacts behind the broken glass of her shop, stormed by demonstrators during clashes with the police at a general strike in the city. (Image: Emilio Morenatti)
At the Dining Hall - Daily Life, 3rd
Every day, John McLean, 65, visits the St. Vincent DePaul Society Dining Hall in Youngstown, Ohio, where homeless and poor people can eat a good meal, socialise and get warm. (Image: Jacob Ehrbahn)
At the Dandora Dump - Contemporary Issues, 1st
Pausing in the rain, a woman working as a trash picker at the 30-acre dump wishes she had more time to look at the books she comes across. (Image: Micah Albert)
Aida - General News, 1st
Syrian woman, Aida, cries while recovering from injuries received when her house was shelled. Here husband and two children died in the attack. (Image: Rodrigo Abd)
Ai Weiwei - Staged Portraits, 2nd
Chinese activist Ai Weiwei. (Image: Stefen Chow)
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