Asia, Stories - Afghanistan on the Edge © Ebrahim Noroozi /Associated Press, An Afghan woman rests in the desert, near a camp housing people recently deported from Pakistan, close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Torkham, Afghanistan, 17 November 2023
Mohammed Salem / Reuters. Inas Abu Maamar (36) cradles the body of her niece Saly (5) who was killed, along with four other family members, when an Israeli missile struck their home. Khan Younis, Gaza, 17 October 2023
Jury Special Mention © Mustafa Hassouna /Anadolu Images. A resident of al-Zahra walks through the rubble of homes destroyed in Israeli airstrikes. The strikes hit around 25 apartment blocks in the university and residential neighborhood. At the time of writing (4 March 2024), Israel’s attacks on the occupied Palestinian territories during the Israel-Hamas war had killed some 30,000 people and injured more than 70,000. Gaza City, Gaza, 19 October 2023.
Jury Special Mention © Leon Neal / Getty Images. An Israeli security forces officer searches the site of the Supernova music festival for personal effects of victims of the 7 October Hamas attack, which resulted in around 1,200 deaths, more than 2,500 reported injuries, and some 250 people held hostage from the festival and communities near the Gaza border. Re’im, Israel, 12 October 2023.
Southeast Asia and Oceania - Honorable Mention © Arie Basuki. A resident catches fish at a once-scenic waterfall on the Cileungsi River. The thick foam on the water is largely a product of waste runoff from nearby industries. Curug Parigi, Indonesia, 27 August 2023.
Africa - Honorable Mention - Survivors © Arlette Bashizi for The Washington Post. Shila (32), a mother of three, ran a hairdressing salon before Eritrean soldiers invaded her town and repeatedly raped her for three months. As a consequence, Shila became pregnant and gave birth to a boy, but her other children do not know that her mother was assaulted. Shila is uncertain if she will ever be strong enough to tell them the truth. Mekele, Tigray region, Ethiopia, 2 November 2023
Asia, Honorable Mention - The Edge © Zishaan A LatifIn. Kharbali, a Bengali Muslim woman navigates floodwaters during Assam's five-month monsoon season. In July 2023, devastating floods affected lower Assam, a region that is predominantly Bengali Muslim. Approximately 35,000 sought refuge in flood relief camps. The floods obliterate homes, farms, and crops, intensifying struggles for National Register of Citizens (NRC) inclusion amidst political and environmental precarity. Jania, Barpeta, Lower Assam, India, 14 August 2023
Europe, Honorable Mention - Looking for Satyrus © Rena Effendi /VII Photo /National Geographic Society. Fatima and her sister pose for a portrait. Her family settled in a remote outpost of Parağaçay in the Ordubad region of Nakhchivan, which is now an Azerbaijani exclave. Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, 3 August 2023.
North and Central America, Honorable Mention - The First Climate Refugees of the United States © Sandra Mehl. Nya Dardar, playing with one of her chickens. Along with her mother and two sisters, Nya was left homeless after Hurricane Ida. She moved in with her grandmother Patty in Pointe-aux-Chênes, in southeastern Louisiana, United States, where she now resides. Her family did not meet the criteria for resettlement in Gray. 18 May 2023
South America, Honorable Mention - Insurrection © Gabriela Biló for Folha de São Paulo. A broken window shown from inside the Presidential Palace. Protestors stormed Three Powers Plaza, home to the headquarters of Brazil’s three main constitutional powers. They smashed windows, damaged furniture, vandalized exteriors, and looted businesses. Brasilia, Brazil, 8 January 2023.
Southeast Asia and Oceania, Long-Term Projects - Revolution in Myanmar © Ta Mwe, Sacca Photo /VII Foundation /Frontline Club /W. Eugene Smith Grant.Anti-coup protesters handed flowers to riot police saying, “You are the people’s police”. Yangon, Myanmar, 6 February 2021.
Southeast Asia and Oceania, Open Format © Aletheia Casey. 21 August 2023 (Left) A photograph of Callala Bay (Jerrinja and Wandi Wandian Country), Australia, painted and reimagined. Callala Bay and the surrounding area face continual threat of wildfires due to changing environmental conditions. (Right) Birds flying through a landscape afflicted by drought, New South Wales, Australia.
South America, Long-Term Projects - Mapuche: The Return of the Ancient Voices © Pablo E. Piovano /Greenpeace Award_GEO/National Geographic Society. Women sacrifice a lamb as thanksgiving on the morning after a machi (an ancestral authority and spiritual guide) has gone into a trance seeking guidance for her people. Maihue, Los Ríos, Chile, 26 June 2023.
North and Central America, Long-Term Projects - The Two Walls © Alejandro Cegarra /The New York Times /Bloomberg. Ruben Soto (right), a migrant from Venezuela, sits with Rosa Bello, a Honduran migrant, on top of “The Beast.” Ruben and Rosa met in Mexico and fell in love on their way to the United States. Samalayuca, Mexico, 8 May 2023.
