Gaza City Funeral Procession Photo Wins World Press Photo 2012

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The photograph above by Swedish Dagens Nyheter photographer Paul Hansen has been selected as the World Press Photo of the Year 2012. It’s a powerful image that shows a funeral procession in Gaza City, with men carrying the bodies of two children while the body of their father trails behind on a stretcher.

The two children were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. Their mother was sent to intensive care after the blast. Hansen captured the image on November 20, 2012 as a small crowd was carrying the three bodies through a street to a mosque for a burial ceremony.

Peruvian jury member Mayu Mohanna is quoted as saying, “The strength of the pictures lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow of the adults with the innocence of the children. It’s a picture I will not forget.”

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To select the image, a group of 19 photojournalism and documentary professionals were selected as jury members and flown to the World press Photo office in Amsterdam. Over two weeks from February 2 through February 14, the jury members pored over submitted photographs that had no mention of the photographers behind them. The winners were just announced today.

As part of his win, Hansen snags a cash prize of €10,000 (~$13,378) and a Canon DSLR and lens kit.

A total of 103,481 photos from 5,666 photographers in 124 countries were received for the 2012 contest.

You can view a gallery of all the winners over on the World Press Photo website.


Image credit: Photograph by Paul Hansen/Dagens Nyheter

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