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In this photo provided on Friday Feb. 15, 2013 by World Press Photo, the 2013 World Press Photo of the year by Paul Hansen, Sweden, for Dagens Nyheter, shows two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and her three-year-old brother Muhammad who were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. Their father, Fouad, was also killed and their mother was put in intensive care. Fouad s brothers carry his children to the mosque for the burial ceremony as his body is carried behind on a stretcher in Gaza City, Palestinian Territories, Nov. 20, 2012.
AMSTERDAM—Swedish photographer Paul Hansen won the 2012 World Press Photo award Friday for newspaper Dagens Nyheter with a picture of two Palestinian children killed in an Israeli missile strike being carried to their funeral.
The picture shows a group of men marching the dead bodies through a narrow street in Gaza City. The victims, a brother and sister, are wrapped in white cloth with only their faces showing.
"The strength of the pictures lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow of the adults with the innocence of the children," said jury member Mayu Mohanna of Peru. "It's a picture I will not forget."
World Press Photo, one of photojournalism's most prestigious contests, issued awards in nine categories
In this photo provided on Friday Feb. 15, 2013 by World Press Photo, the 2nd prize Sports Sports Action Stories by Sergei Ilnitsky, Russia, for European Pressphoto Agency, shows Alaaeldin Abouelkassem of Egypt (top) in action against Peter Joppich of Germany (C) during their Men's Foil Individual Round16 match for the London 2012 Olympic Games in London, Britain, July 31, 2012. ((AP Photo/Sergei Ilnitsky, European Pressphoto Agency))
to 54 photographers of 32 nationalities.
Hansen's Nov. 20 shot won top prize in both the spot news single photograph category and the overall competition. It portrays 2-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and her 3-year-old brother Muhammad, who were killed when their house was destroyed by the Israeli attack. They are being carried by grieving uncles, as their father Fouad was also killed, and his body can be seen in the background of the picture.
The children's mother, whose name was not provided, was in intensive care.
"This prize is the highest honor you can get in the profession," Hansen told The Associated Press. "I'm very happy, but also very sad. The family lost two children and the mother is unconscious in a hospital."
"These situations are so visually complex," he added. "It's difficult to convey the emotions, to translate what is happening. The light is harsh and there are a lot of people.
"But in the alley the light bounced off the walls, so I thought this is a place where you can see that it's a procession. ... You get the depth in the image, and the bouncing light."
Violence in the Middle East, and its effect upon civilians, was the dominant theme in the hard news categories.
In this photo provided on Friday Feb. 15, 2013 by World Press Photo, the 1st prize Sports Sports Features Stories by Jan Grarup, Denmark, for Laif, shows the Somali basketball association pays armed guards to watch over and protect Suweys and her team when they play. 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, Mogadishu, Somalia, Feb. 21, 2012. ((AP Photo/Jan Grarup, Laif))
Associated Press won eight awards in all, including top prizes for a spot news series for Bernat Armangue of Spain for photos he took in Gaza during November; and for Rodrigo Abd of Argentina for general news single photograph, with a picture of a woman with a bloodstained face weeping in Idib, Syria, on March 10.
She was identified as Aida, and her photo of silent grief is in some ways a reverse image of Hansen's winning shot. She received severe injuries when her house was shelled by the Syrian Army, killing her husband and two children.
In other categories, Wei Seng Chen of Malaysia won in the sports singles category with a shot of what might be considered a local "extreme sport": a man clutching the tails of two bulls as
In this photo provided on Friday Feb. 15, 2013 by World Press Photo, the 1st prize Contemporary Issues Single by Micah Albert, USA, for Redux Images, shows pausing in the rain, a woman working as a trash picker at the 30-acre dump, which literally spills into households of one million people living in nearby slums, wishes she had more time to look at the books she comes across. She even likes the industrial parts catalogs. It gives me something else to do in the day besides picking trash, she said in Nairobi, Kenya, April 3, 2012. ((AP Photo/Micah Albert, Redux Images))
they pull him through a watery rice field in Batu Sangkar, Indonesia.
The competition also includes portrait series, scenes from everyday life, and nature photography, among others.
The contest drew entries from professional press photographers, photojournalists and documentary photographers across the world. In all, 103,481 images were submitted by 5,666 photographers from 124 countries.
The photos were submitted anonymously to a panel of 19 jury members, chaired by AP Director of Photography Santiago Lyon, and judged in multiple rounds.
The winners were all "stellar examples of first-rate photojournalism," Lyon said.
Other judges came from Germany, Iraq, Peru, France, Sweden, China, Britain, Spain,
In this photo provided on Friday Feb. 15, 2013 by World Press Photo, the 1st prize Contemporary Issues Stories by Maika Elan, Vietnam, for Most, shows Phan Thi Thuy Vy and Dang Thi Bich Bay, who have been together for one year, watch television to relax after studying at school. 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, despite past human rights issues and a long-standing stigma. In August 2012, the country s first public gay pride parade took place in Hanoi, Da Nang, Vietnam, June 22, 2012. ((AP Photo/Maika Elan, Most))
Azerbaijan, South Africa, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.S.
Hansen will receive a (EURO)10,000 prize at ceremonies and the opening of the year's exhibition April 25-27 in Amsterdam.
Karl Ritter in Stockholm, Sweden, contributed to this report.