A compelling portrait that captures an aspect of the subject’s character.
First Place
Carol Guzy , Miami Herald/ZUMA Press
ICE: Masked ICE agents and federal officers in balaclavas detain migrants after immigration court hearings during US President Donald Trump's controversial reform policies amid a mass deportation effort at the Jacob Javits Federal Building in New York NY on Wednesday July 16, 2025. Agents say the masks maintain anonymity and save them from doxing to protect their families from the animosity towards them in society. Critics believe masks are intimidating and further traumatize children witnessing detainments of their parents, and that they should be required to show their identity and be held accountable the same as police officers. Legal efforts to unmask them are ongoing. There is a vast political divide in America. Some protest, decrying a lack of due process with echoes of Nazi Germany and a slippery slide into fascism. Others applaud.
Second Place
Salwan Georges, The Washington Post
: Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa plays chess in his suite at the St. Regis in Washington, D.C., following a meeting with Donald Trump on Nov. 10, 2025. Al-Sharaa, a former opposition figure who rose to power after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government, became the first Syrian president to visit the White House, marking a dramatic shift in U.S.–Syrian relations after years of isolation and conflict.
Third Place
Alex Kent, The Washington Post
:
Award of Excellence
Salwan Georges, The Washington Post
: DAMASCUS, SYRIA: Julien, a survivor of the church bombing, lies on a bed in his family home on July 15, 2025, in Damascus, Syria. A suicide bomber detonated an explosive inside Mar Elias Church during a service, killing at least 20 worshippers and injuring dozens more in one of the deadliest attacks on a Christian site in the capital in years. (Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
Award of Excellence
Jabin Botsford , The Washington Post
Minority Leader: WASHINGTON,DC - NOVEMBER 6: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks at a press conference about the retirement of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and the ongoing shutdown on Capitol Hill on Thursday Nov 06, 2025, in Washington, DC. The Government has now been shutdown for 37 days. In 2025, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries led the Democratic opposition to President Trump's second-term agenda, most notably by delivering a record-breaking 8-hour and 44-minute floor speech on July 3 to delay a major tax and spending bill. Throughout the year, he focused on protecting the Affordable Care Act, eventually securing bipartisan House passage for a three-year extension of its tax credits to prevent rising healthcare costs.