The World Press Photo Contest awards the best images in news photography. This year 5,775 photographers from 128 countries submitted 82,951 images to the renowned contest. A jury of 18 judges selected 41 winners in these eight categories: contemporary issues, daily life, general news, long-term projects, nature, people, sports, and spot news. Each category is divided into winners for single images and also stories. Below are the winners from the nature and sports categories.
Nature
Single Images
1. A massive shelf cloud moves towards Bondi Beach. (Rohan Kelly/The Daily Telegraph)
2. A humpback whale and her newborn calf swim near Roca Partida, the smallest island of the Revillagigedo archipelago, off the Pacific coast of Mexico. During the mating season, the island waters are home to a large population of humpback whales, and are a popular diving destination. (Anuar Patjane Floriuk)
3. Colima Volcano erupts with rock showers, lightning, and lava flows. The volcano, which is one of the most active in Mexico, showed an increase in activity from July onwards. (Sergio Tapiro)
Sergio Velasco Garcia
Stories
1. Tough Times for Orangutans
A young male Sumatran orangutan threatens another male, in Batang Toru Forest. Male orangutans are intolerant of other males, and compete for territory and females. (Tim Laman for National Geographic)
A young male Bornean orangutan climbs 30 meters up to the crown of a fruiting strangler fig tree to feed, deep in the rainforest in the Gunung Palung National Park. (Tim Laman for National Geographic)
Tim Laman
An orangutan is forced out to a small strip of forest along a river’s edge, by fires burning behind him. (Tim Laman for National Geographic)
Tim Laman
2. Ivory Wars
Michael Oryem, 29, poached elephant with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), operating mainly in the Garamba National Park in DRC. He says he was asked by LRA leader Joseph Kony to take ivory to him in Darfur, Sudan, and that the LRA trades the ivory to the Sudanese Army. Oryem defected from the LRA and helped take Ugandan forces through the border into the Central African Republic to retrieve a stash of ivory he had previously hidden. He is carrying two of the six tusks he hid. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images Reportage for National Geographic) Rangers exhibit their riding skills as they return to base at Zakouma National Park, Chad, after weeks on elephant patrol. The park lost nearly three quarters of its elephants in the decade up to 2011, due to raids by Janjaweed rebels and poachers from Sudan. Since then—with the park under new management—Zakouma rangers, helped by intelligence from nomad groups, have eliminated poaching almost completely. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images Reportage for National Geographic) Ugandan soldiers cross a river while on patrol against the Lord’s Resistance Army close to the border of the DRC. They are on the tracks of an Lord’s Resistance Army contingent which has come from the Garamba National Park in the DRC, where they were poaching elephant. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images Reportage for National Geographic) A shipping container stands open in the port at Lome, Togo, after customs officers had seized four tonnes of illegal ivory, found using new container-scanning technology. DNA evidence linked the ivory to an elephant massacre perpetrated by Seleka rebels in Dzanga Bai, Central African Republic, in 2013. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images Reportage for National Geographic)
3. Chameleon Under Pressure
Orange panther chameleons, pictured here in captivity, fight. Originally from northern Madagascar, orange panther chameleons are very rare in the wild. (Christian Ziegler for National Geographic)
Christian Ziegler for National G
Two Decary’s leaf chameleons sit in perfect camouflage in the leaf litter of a dry forest. (Christian Ziegler for National Geographic)
Christian Ziegler for National G
Sports
Single Images
1. Czech skier Ondrej Bank crashes during the downhill portion of the alpine combined contest, at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. Bank stumbled and lost control just before the final jump. He was hospitalized with concussion and facial injuries. (Christian Walgram/GEPA pictures)
GEPA pictures
2. Ron Baker (31) shoots over Nick Zeisloft (2), as Hanner Mosquera-Perea (12) and Rashard Kelly (0) battle for position under the basket, at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament game between Wichita State and Indiana, at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha. Wichita won 81-76. (Greg Nelson for Sports Illustrated)
Sports Illustrated
Stories
1. Vetluga’s Hockey
Team coach Evgeny Solovyov prepares the stadium for a match. (Vladimir Pesnya/Sputnik)
Photo by Vladimir Pesnya
A match takes place between junior teams from Vetluga and the neighboring village of Sharanga. (Vladimir Pesnya/Sputnik)
Photo by Vladimir Pesnya
A member of Sharanga’s junior team waits to play. (Vladimir Pesnya/Sputnik)
Photo by Vladimir Pesnya
Players in the locker room of HC Vetluga at half-time. (Vladimir Pesnya/Sputnik)
Photo by Vladimir Pesnya
2. The Gris-gris Wrestlers of Senegal
Kherou Ngor, a young wrestling champion, performs a ritual with cow’s milk, to obtain strength. (Christian Bobst) A tournament in the Adrien Senghor Arena in Dakar nears its end. (Christian Bobst) BB Bismi Ndoye defeats Maraka Dji, in a fight at the Demba Diop Stadium. (Christian Bobst) People watch a match held as part of Independence Day celebrations. (Christian Bobst)
3. Ebola Survivors Football Club
Erison walks to football practice. (Tara Todras-Whitehill for the New York Times)
New York Times
Bandu Turay (second row from top, fourth from right), Erison’s mother, watches him play, on a field near their house in Kenema. Bandu and Erison were the only two of their immediate family to survive the Ebola epidemic. (Tara Todras-Whitehill for the New York Times)
New York Times
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