World Press Photo announces Photo of the Year 2026
Monday, April 27, 2026
The Photo of the Year is 'Seperated by Ice' by Carol Guzy, ZUMA Press, iWitness, for Miami Herald.
This photograph was taken inside one of the few US federal buildings where photographers were granted access—a single hallway where Carol Guzy and others showed up, day after day, to document what was happening. It captures a harrowing moment: a family separated by the state. Luis was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents following an immigration court hearing at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, in New York City, New York, United States, on 26 August 2025. Luis, an Ecuadorian migrant whom his family says has no criminal record, served as the household’s sole provider. His wife Cocha and their three children (aged seven, 13, and 15) were left inconsolable, facing immediate financial hardship and profound emotional trauma.
What Carol Guzy has documented is not an isolated instance, but a policy indiscriminately applied to people who arrive for hearings in good faith. It is evidence and documentation of a government policy being applied systematically to people who followed the rules they were given.
Carol Guzy, winner of the World Press Photo of the Year in 2026: “This award highlights the critical importance of the story worldwide. We bear witness to the suffering of countless families, but also to their grace and resilience that transcends adversity that has been quite humbling. The courage to open up their lives to our cameras, allowed us to tell their stories. And certainly this award belongs to them, not me.”