World Press Photo Award
Hansen of Sweden, a photographer working for the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, poses holding his picture that won the World Press Photo of the year for 2012, in StockholmReuters

The winners of the 56th annual World Press Photo award was announced in Amsterdam on Friday and Swedish photographer Paul Hansen won the first prize.

The international jury has selected a picture, which shows a group of men carrying the dead bodies of two children through a street in Gaza City, as the "World Press Photo of the Year 2012". The picture was clicked by Paul Hansen of Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.

"The strength of the picture lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow of the adults with the innocence of the children. It's a picture I will not forget," Mayu Mohanna, jury member from Peru, said.  

"When I look at the results, as chair of the jury, I think that the World Press Photo of the Year, and all the other photos that were given prizes, were solid, stellar examples of first-rate photojournalism that is powerful, that is lasting, and that will reach whoever looks at them," said, Santiago Lyon, vice president and director of photography at The Associated Press.

There were total nine themed categories including Spot New, General News, Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, Sports Action, Sports Features, Observed Portrait, Staged Portrait and Nature, according to IBTimes. From those nine categories, prizes were given to 54 photographers of 32 nationalities.

Check out the list of winners from the 2013 photo contest here and their photos here.  

Check out the gallery of selected winners: