World Press Photo Award 2020: Contemporary history in photos

The photo story winner in the category "Spot News" is the "Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 Crash Site" series by Mulugeta Ayene from Ethiopia. In despair, a grieving relative of one of the crash victims crushes a handful of soil into her face at the accident site.

Like a painting: The winning picture in the category "Sport, Single Picture" was shot by Mark Blinch of Canada. Kawhi Leonard from the Toronto Raptors (squatting, center) watches his ball go into the basket. His team won at the very last second after the buzzer had already rung at the end of the game. The Raptors became the first non-US-based team to win the NBA championship.

The award-winning photo in the category "Portraits, Single Image" shows Ewa, a 15-year-old Armenian girl, as she awakens from a condition called "resignation syndrome." The phenomenon mainly affects children of refugees who fall silent while waiting for asylum, become passive and stop eating. As soon as their lives improve, the children slowly come back to life.

This baby orangutan died after animal welfare activists found it with its injured mother on a palm oil plantation. Villagers had shot and blinded the mother with air rifles. Alain Schroeder has followed the work of animal welfare activists working to help endangered primates and won the prize in the category "Nature, Single Image".

A young man holds up a poster during the protests in Hong Kong on September 11, 2019. The protesters around him sing "Glory to Hong Kong," a popular protest song that became the movement's inofficial anthem. With his photo series Nicolas Asfouri won in the category "General News, Stories."

Hungarian photographer Esther Horvath took this photo for the New York Times when these bears approached flags erected by Polarstern researchers. "Polar Bear and Her Cub" won the award in the category "Environment, Single Picture." The ship crew is researching the effects of climate change in the Arctic.

The IDEX arms fair in Abu Dhabi is a major hub for military equipment. Here, an arms dealer is locking away two bazooka shells. Russian photographer Nikita Teryoshin attended the fair and took the snapshot that won him the prize in the category "Contemporary History, Single Picture."

For his impressive photo series, Romain Laurendeau from France followed the angry youth of Algeria. Almost three out of four people under the age of 30 in that North African country are unemployed. In February, young Algerians took to the streets in frustration in what was a liberating blow against the authorities. Laurendeau also won the prize in the category of long-term projects.

Khartoum, Sudan. Amid one of the many protests against the dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir, a young man recites a poem, surrounded by demonstrators who aim their mobile phone flashlights at him. The jury chose Japanese photographer Yasuyoshi Chiba's work as the winner because it provides inspiration to the viewer in uncertain times. It also won the category "General News, Single Image".