The World Press Photo of the Year has been awarded to a photograph of a gay couple from St Petersburg. The photograph captures Jon, 21, and Alex, 25, a gay couple, during an intimate moment and won the contemporary issues category before being awarded the Photo of the Year, beating thousands of other entries.
Mads Nissen, who took the photograph, was born in Denmark in 1979 and is a staff photographer for the Danish daily newspaper Politiken.
“Life for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people is becoming increasingly difficult in Russia. Sexual minorities face legal and social discrimination,” World Press Photo said in a statement.
The competition receives nearly 100,000 entries, some of war and natural disasters, others of daily life.