World Press Photo of the Year 2012

This powerful photograph by photographer Samuel Aranda was introduced today as the World Press Photo of the Year 2012. The description reads,

A woman holds a wounded relative in her arms, inside a mosque used as a field hospital by demonstrators against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, during clashes in Sanaa, Yemen on 15 October 2011.

The image was selected from 101,254 photos that were submitted to the World Press Photo 2012 competition by 5,247 photographers in 124 countries. You can check out all the other winners in the different categories on The Big Picture and over on the World Press Photo website.

Photo by Yuri Kozyrev: Rebels in Libya are attacked by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s tanks.

Photo by Ray McManus: A rugby match played in the rain between Old Belvedere and Blackrock.

Photo by Jan Dago: In Tahrir Square, a child is propped atop an adult’s shoulders, fully clad in military uniform, in a peaceful effort to ask President Hosni Mubarek to step down.

Photo by Tomasz Lazar: In Harlem, New York, a protestor is arrested at a demonstration against police tactics and income inequality.

Photo by Alex Majoli: In Cairo, protestors cry in rebellion at Tahrir Square in response to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek’s speech about refusing to step down.

Photo by Stephanie Sinclair: Tahani, a child bride in Yemen at the age of 6, poses with her husband, 25 years old at the time of their marriage. They are joined by another child bride, Ghada, and her husband.

Photo by Alejandro Kirchuk: A married couple of 65 years, Marcos (89) and Monica (87) live everyday together through the added obstacle of Monica’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease.

Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba: Chieko Matsukawa finds her daughter’s graduation certificate in the rubble in the aftermath of Japan’s earthquake in 2011.

Photo by Lars Lindqvist: At the port of Ishinokmaki, boats are stranded atop the piers in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan.

Photo by Johnny Haglund: A girl in the Democractic Republic of Congo goes fishing in the Congo River. She carries the fish in her mouth, a common practice, because it is less likely to slip out of her grip.

Photo by Paul Hilton: Thousands of shark fins are sorted through in China, where shark fin soup is a very popular meal. It is reported that 90 percent of sharks have disappeared because of the international demand for the dish.

Photo by Brent Stirton: Two rhinos meet, one of which survived a vicious dehorning by poachers in South Africa only a few months ago.

Photo by Ilvy Njiokiktjien: A sergeant in South Africa demonstrates how to operate a gun to a group of white youths at a camp dedicated to go up against Nelson Mandela’s culturally mixed “rainbow nation.”