World Press Photo 2011 winners

Winners of the World Press Photo contest, which recognizes excellence in photography, were released Friday. The winners were selected from more than 100,000 entries submitted by more than 5,200 photographers, according to the World Press Photo competition.

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March 11, 2011

Yuri Kozyrev, of Russia, won first prize in the Spot News Singles category for this photo, which shows rebels in Ras Lanuf, Libya.

Yuri Kozyrev / AP

Feb. 10, 2011

Alex Majoli, of Italy, won first prize in the General News Singles category for this photo, which shows protesters crying, chanting and screaming in Cairo's Tahrir Square after listening to the speech in which Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he would not give up power.

Alex Majoli / Magnum Photos for Newsweek

Oct. 15, 2011

Samuel Aranda, of Spain, won Photo of the Year for this picture, taken for the New York Times, which shows a woman holding a wounded relative during protests against Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen.

Samuel Aranda / AP

June 10, 2010

Stephanie Sinclair, of the United States, won first prize in the Contemporary Issues Stories category for this picture, which shows Tahani (in pink), who married her husband, Majed, when she was 6 years old and he was 25. She is posing for this portrait with former classmate, Ghada, also a child bride, outside their mountain home in Hajjah, Yemen. Nearly half of all women in Yemen were married as children.

Stephanie Sinclair / AP

May 4, 2011

Laerke Posselt, of Denmark, won first prize in the Portraits Singles category for this photo of Iranian-born actress Mellica Mehraban in Copenhagen.

Laerke Posselt / AP

Brent Stirton, of South Africa, won first prize in the Contemporary Issues Singles category for this photo, which shows Maria, a drug addict and sex worker, in between clients in a room she rents in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. Maria injects drugs on a daily basis and sees many men every week, but says she is HIV-negative. She says she needs the prostitution money to support herself, her drug habit and her 9-year-old daughter.

Brent Stirton / AP

Rob Hornstra, of the Netherlands, won first prize in the Arts and Entertainment Stories category for this photo, which shows Marika Bajur singing “Kuriu” in the restaurant Eurasia.

Rob Hornstra / AP

Alejandro Kirchuk, of Argentina, won first prize in the Daily Life Stories category for this photo, titled "Never Let You Go." In the image, Marcos leads Monica to the couples’ living room in Buenos Aires. Monica was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

Alejandro Kirchuk / AP

Nov. 9, 2010

Brent Stirton, of South Africa, won first prize in the Nature Stories category for "Rhino Wars." In the photo, a female rhino, left, in Natal, South Africa, survived a brutal dehorning four months earlier by poachers, who used a chainsaw to remove her horns and a large section of bone in this area of her skull.

Brent Stirton / AP

Jenny E. Ross, of the United States, won first prize in the Nature Singles category for this photo of a male polar bear climbing precariously on the face of a cliff above the ocean at Ostrova Oranskie in northern Novaya Zemlya. The polar bear was attempting to feed on seabird eggs.

Jenny E. Ross / AP

Oct. 5, 2011

Damir Sagolj, of Bosnia and Herzegovina, won first prize in the Daily Life Singles category for this picture of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung, on a building in the capital city of Pyongyang.

Damir Sagolj / AP

Sept. 28, 2011

Ton Koene, of the Netherlands, won second prize in the Portraits Stories category for this photo of a recruit at a police training center in Kunduz, Afghanistan.

Ton Koene / AP

Oct. 25, 2011

Tomasz Lazar, of Poland, won second prize in the People in the News Singles category for this photo, which shows the arrest of protesters in the Harlem neighborhood of New York during a demonstration against police tactics and income inequality.

Tomasz Lazar / AP

April 14, 2011

Paolo Pellegrina, of Italy, won second prize in the General News Stories category for this photo, which shows the tsunami aftermath in Japan.

Paolo Pellegrina / Magnum Photos for Zeit Magazin

April 3, 2011

Yasuyoshi Chiba, of Japan, won first prize in the People in the News Stories category for this photo, which shows the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan. In the image, Chieko Matsukawa shows her daughter's graduation certificate, which she found in the debris in Higashimatsushima city, Japan.

Yasuyoshi Chiba / AP

July 22, 2011

Niclas Hammerstrom, of Sweden, won second prize in the Spot News Stories category for this photo, taken in Utoya, Norway, after Anders Behring Breivik killed 69 people at a summer camp on the small island outside Oslo.

Niclas Hammerstrom / AP

July 17, 2011

Adam Pretty, of Australia, won second prize in the Sports Stories category for this photo, which shows divers practicing during the 14th FINA World Championships at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai.

Adam Pretty / AP

Feb. 5, 2011

Ray McManus, of Ireland, won second prize in the Sports Singles category for this photo, which shows a rugby match between Old Belvedere and Blackrock in Dublin.

Ray McManus / AP

July 9, 2011

Vincent Boisot, of France, won second prize in the Arts and Entertainment Singles category for this photo, which shows a model posing in front of tailor stalls in the center of Dakar, Senegal. The model is wearing a creation by designer Yolande Mancini.

Vincent Boisot / AP

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