Promoting every year the work of hundreds of photographers and journalists, World Press Photos aim is to increase public awareness on social issues, general and spot news and basically anything interesting going on in this complicated world. It is definetly one of my favorite competitions. Every year I cannot wait to scroll through their galleries and be inspired by the amazing work of the photojournalists showcased on the website.

                             World Press Photo of the Year 2012     

Launched in 2008 the SWPA is one of the most prestigious contemporary photographic awards.
This year the competition saw the highest number of photos ever submitted with over 122,000 entries from 170 different countries.
The judges of the competition, composed of members of the World Photographic Academy, are changed annually and select a shortlist of the best talents in the Professional, Open and Youth categories.
Here is a collection of the shortlisted photos that impressed me the most: