2021 Magazine Photojournalist of the Year

Firefighters look over the ridgeline as they fight the Blue Ridge fire as it approaches homes in Yorba Linda, Orange County, California, USA the evening the fire began, October 26, 2020. Because of climate change, 2020 had the most intense fire season in California in 18 years. The Blue Ridge fire burned over 14,000 acres in Southern California.

Agricultural workers, primarily from Mexico, harvest lettuce in the Coachella Valley, in southern California, November 11, 2020. Because of climate change, there are noticeable shifts and extremes in temperatures, particularly in the last 5-6 years. Farmers in the area who have been working the fields for 25-30 years say the extreme cold at dawn and high temperatures during the day often damage the crops, and bruise lettuce and bell peppers, and ultimately affect working hours for those harvesting.

Supporters of President Trump demonstrate in front of the Philadelphia convention center as they chant they would like to stop counting votes as they face off against supporters of Vice President Biden in center city, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 6, 2020. The day after the United States voted in the 2020 presidential election—with an unprecedented number of mail in votes due to the pandemic—votes are still being tallied in key swing states across the country.

Shabana, 14, prepares lunch with her sister at home before going to afternoon classes at a school-sponsored by Save The Children in a village outside of Kabul, January 29, 2020. Shabana's family fled Logar province because of ongoing fighting and insecurity; her memories include constant fighting, the smell of gunfire, armed men entering the family home, and her three brothers being shot and wounded by the Taliban before the family fled Logar province for Kabul. Shabana's* three brothers were all in the Afghan National Army and were shot during fighting with the Taliban. Girls and young women in conflict are uniquely impacted by the horrors of war, facing the increased threat of sexual violence, risk of early marriage, and the denial of their basic human rights including access to healthcare and getting an education.

Laura Bowden, 41, Specialist Nurse, checks the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Machine, ECMO, machine before she and a team of Critical Care nurses and doctors prepare to turn and lift COVID-19 patient, William, 50, at Royal Papworth Hospital outside Cambridge, England, June 15, 2020. As part of his physical therapy, William sits upright in a chair for several hours, five times per week in order to rebuild strength after months in intensive care. William was in critical care and on ECMO support for over three months and was one of the longest-running patients in Critical Care in June at that point in the pandemic. An ECMO machine, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, pumps and oxygenates a patient's blood outside the body—which essentially does the job of the lungs externally in order to give the body a chance to rest and recover. Royal Papworth is one of only five hospitals in England to provide ECMO machines for respiratory failure.

A COVID-19 patient rests after taking a few steps during a physical therapy session at the Blackpool Victoria Hospital in North West England, in June 2020. An increasing number of countries are closing their borders to the United Kingdom after the UK government announced the prevalence of a new variant of the Coronavirus, which is said to be 70% more transmissible.

COVID-19 patient, William, 50, is assisted by a lifting device and medical staff during his daily physical therapy, where he sits up in a chair for 2-3 hours a day, five days a week, in order to rebuild core and overall strength after months in Critical Care with Coronavirus at Royal Papworth Hospital outside Cambridge, England, June 15, 2020. Ferguson, who at that point had been in Critical Care and on an ECMO machine for roughly three months, was one of the longest-running patients in critical care in the United Kingdom during the pandemic. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation pumps and oxygenates a patient's blood outside the body—which essentially does the job of the lungs externally in order to give the body a chance to rest and recover. Royal Papworth is one of only five hospitals in England to provide ECMO machines for respiratory failure.

Nurse Josephine Riccobono, 24, comforts COVID-19 patient William, 50, who had spent three months in Critical Care, and was one of the longest-running patients in the Critical Care in the United Kingdom at that point in the pandemic, at Royal Papworth Hospital outside Cambridge, England, June 15, 2020. Because visits from family members were prohibited or severely restricted due to the pandemic, patients like William were often dependent on the medical staff for emotional support and care. In this particular moment, Nurse Riccobono, who had been caring for William for weeks, sensed William was depressed and leaned in to ask if he was alright. During his three months in Critical Care, William was on an ECMO machine, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Machine, which pumps and oxygenates a patient's blood outside the body, essentially doing the job of the lungs externally in order to give the body a chance to rest and recover. Royal Papworth is one of only five hospitals in England to pr

Dr. Harpreet Mangat monitors a COVID-19 patient as he checks her medical chart in the Intensive Care Unit of the Royal Free Hospital in London on June 8th, 2020.

COVID-19 Patient, Foysal Ahmad, 51, rests before attempting to walk with the help of medical staff and physiotherapists at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England, June 15, 2020. Ahmed was among some of the most severe COVID-19 patients in the country and spent over two months in the Critical care Unit of Royal Papworth being kept alive with the help of an ECMO machine, Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. An ECMO machine pumps and oxygenates a patient's blood outside the body, essentially doing the job of the lungs externally in order to give the body a chance to rest and recover. Royal Papworth is one of only five hospitals in England to provide ECMO machines for respiratory failure, as they require a highly-trained medical staff to operate and monitor the machines.

COVID-19 Patient, Foysal Ahmad, 51, speaks with his wife, Nipa Begum, from the Critical Care unit of Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England, June 15, 2020. Ahmed was among some of the most severe COVID-19 patients in the country, and spent over two months in the Critical Care Unit of Royal Papworth being kept alive with the help of an ECMO machine, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation before being discharged roughly a month later. He continues his recovery at home with routine physical therapy. An ECMO machine pumps and oxygenates a patient's blood outside the body, essentially doing the job of the lungs externally in order to give the body a chance to rest and recover. Royal Papworth is one of only five hospitals in England to provide ECMO machines for respiratory failure, as they require a highly-trained medical staff to operate and monitor the machines.

Domestic caretaker Jim Johnson, 32, takes a breath of fresh air and feels the rain on his face outside the paramedic's entrance of the triage area in the emergency department of Blackpool Victoria Hospital, June 17, 2020. After months of relentless patients and stress caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, Medical staff, and cleaners like Johnson were mentally and physically exhausted. The United Kingdom, with over 80,000 registered COVID-19 deaths, has one of the highest COVID death tolls in Europe.

A group of refugees runs away from the riverbank at the border between Turkey and Greece minutes after crossing back into Turkey from Greece, where they entered and were pushed back into Turkey by Greek security forces, near Edirne, Turkey, March 4, 2020. At the end of February, the Turkish government declared it was opening the way for almost four million refugees currently living in Turkey to leave the country after dozens of Turkish troops were killed in Idlib, Syria, inspiring thousands to make their way toward the Greek border. Many refugees managed to cross into Greece through unofficial border crossings, and we subsequently picked up by Greek soldiers and recounted being beaten, whipped, robbed, stripped of their belongings, documents, shoes, and often their clothes before being pushed back into Turkey.

Moroccan Jamal Derraz lifts up his shirt to show the wounds on his back after he was allegedly beaten with sticks and kicked by unknown assailants after crossing into Greece from Turkey and claiming asylum with Greek Police in Thessaloniki, Greece, about ten days prior, along with two other Moroccans, while in a temporary holding shelter in UzunKopru, Turkey, March 4, 2020. Derraz explained that after surrendering to the Greek police, he was transported back to the Greek border with Turkey at night, where Greek security guards, or civilian militias dressed in uniform with their faces concealed by black masks, stole their belongings and beat them—either with wooden sticks, or sticks garnished with metal nails before sending them back across the river with his two Moroccan friends. The Turkish security forces picked him up and brought him to this temporary shelter, along with dozens of other Syrian, Iraqi, Pakistani, Afghan, Iranian, and other refugees who were also deported.

Syrian refugee, Ghada al Ayeesa, 32, carries her one-year-old baby across Turkish farmlands by the Turkish border with Greece near Edirne after attempting to cross into Greece from Turkey, where she was a refugee in Gaziantep for four years, March 3, 2020.
Ghada has five children, and when she heard the border was open between the two countries, she and her family made their way to the Maritsa river and crossed over into Greece. She recounted that they were picked up by Greek police, searched, robbed of their phones, money, and “even the milk for her baby” before being sent back across the river into Turkey. Some of the men were beaten, including Ghada’s husband, and many of the other men returned barefoot.

Refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and other countries camp out along the riverbed at the Turkish border with Greece after the Turkish government declared it was opening the way for over three million refugees currently living in Turkey to leave the country after dozens of Turkish troops were killed in Idlib, Syria, inspiring thousands to make their way toward the Greek border, near Edirne, Turkey, March 2, 2020.

Syrian, Iraqi, Pakistani, Afghan, and Iranian refugees are met by Turkish security officials as they return back to Turkey after crossing into Greece and being deported along the Maritsa river dividing Turkey from Greece between Parakule and Ipsala border crossings in Turkey, March 3, 2020. Many of the refugees recounted being beaten by unknown assailants before being robbed, stripped of their belongings, shoes, documents, and often their clothes before being forced back across the river.

Refugee children wait on a bus provided by Turkish security forces near the Turkey border with Greece after dozens of Syrian, Pakistani, Afghan, and Iranian refugees were pushed back into Turkey after crossing into Greece and being deported—many of whom were beaten, robbed, stripped of their belongings and often their clothes.

Refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and other countries scramble to get a hot meal being doled out by a local Turkish family as thousands of refugees camped out all along the Maritsa riverbed near Edirne, at the Turkish border with Greece, March 2, 2020. In late February, the Turkish government declared it was opening the way for over three million refugees currently living in Turkey to leave the country after dozens of Turkish troops were killed in Idlib, Syria, inspiring thousands to make their way toward the Greek border, near Edirne.

An Iranian Kurdish family drank tea beside a fire at dawn while camping out along the Maritsa riverbed at the Turkish border with Greece, while waiting for an opportunity to cross into Greece, March 2, 2020.

Syrian refugees sleep at dawn in frigid temperatures on a hilltop outside of Edirne, Turkey, after being returned back to Turkey from Greece near the Turkish border with Greece, March 4, 2020. The families of these children, originally from Homs, Syria, were living in Turkey as refugees when they heard the Turkish government had opened the border with Greece. Like thousands of others, they packed their things and made their way to the border, where they crossed into Greece, and were met with hostility. They were stripped of their belongings, their documents were burned in front of them, and they were pushed back across the river into Turkey. Zachariah Mohammed, 45, a Syrian refugee from Deir Ezzour, said “We came here to cross the borders. We are running away from bombing and suffering. We just want safety. We are not asking for anything more.”

Eathan Green and his girlfriend, Ginetta Jussaume, practice shooting near their house in Yamhill, Oregon, on August 6, 2018.

Dee Knapp weeps as she looks over the death certificates of four of her five children as her son, Keylan Knapp, stands over her at home in Luther, Oklahoma, August 14, 2018. Keylan was the only remaining child of Dee’s five children, and he died of a drug overdose at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. All of Dee’s five children have passed away.

Michelle watches over her son, Brandon, in Yamhill, Oregon, August 2018. Michelle was sexually assaulted by her father when she was 15, and got pregnant. She delivered the first of four children, whose father and grandfather were the same person, and eventually had three other children.

Clayton Green, a mechanic, poses for a portrait in his garage at home in Yamhill, Oregon, August 6, 2018. Green died last January, leaving five grandchildren — and all have been removed from their parents by the state for their protection.

Geneva Cooley walks through the Julia Tutwiler Correctional Facility in Wetumpka, AL, August 20, 2018. Mrs. Cooley was given a life sentence without parole for getting caught with sock full of heroin and hydromorphone pills minutes after being handed the drugs by two people she had met in the parking lot of the train station in Birmingham, Alabama in 2002. Ms. Cooley, who was sentenced to life without parole for drug-related convictions, was among the last women in the Alabama prison system serving life sentences on nonviolent drug charges. When Alabama lawmakers reduced mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug crimes to include the possibility of parole in 2018, a team of lawyers took on Ms. Cooley’s case. She was released from the Julia Tutwiler Correctional Facility in October 2019. Until the 1970s, America’s incarceration rate was on par with other industrialized nations. But since the "War on Drugs" began in the 1980s, the U.S. is now home to one-quarter of the entire world’s prison population.

A woman is tested for glasses at a Remote Area Medical health fair Gray, Tennessee, November 4, 2018. Researchers have found that lack of insurance coverage kills tens of thousands of people annually, impairing our nation’s competitiveness, reducing life expectancy, and leading to personal heartbreak.
People line up days in advance of the Remote Area Medical health fair in Gray, Tennessee. The program, which serves rural Americans, began by serving people in places like Haiti, before realizing that people in parts of the U.S. were in need of emergency medical care too.

Drew Goff is joined by his baby boy, Ashtyn, as he gets another tattoo. Goff has a long history of drug use, but Kristof said he’s been able to turn his life around with the help of a nonprofit drug-treatment program called Provoking Hope.

Rebecca Hale looks over at her teenage daughter, Chloe, and Chloe’s boyfriend, at home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, August 15, 2018. Hale is a graduate of the Women in Recovery program, which is a program geared toward helping nonviolent drug offenders re-enter society from prison to a productive worker, tax-payer, and mother. Hale, like many, ended up in prison after a life of physical and sexual abuse, trauma, and neglect; she was left homeless as a child after both of her parents were imprisoned for drug charges. Hale eventually ended up in prison, herself, for a series of drug charges and crimes, and eventually was able to rebuild her life after prison, giving her a second chance at keeping her family together and developing a positive relationship with her children.

A man who is overdosing on drugs is overseen by first responders and police as they await an ambulance in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 17, 2018. 70,000 Americans die annually from drug use, another 88,000 from alcohol abuse, and 47,000 from suicide. Increasingly, both Republicans and Democrats favor treating drug addiction as a public health issue instead of a crime. This change reflects the failure of the "War on Drugs" as well as the growing impact of the opioid epidemic which has disproportionately affected white working and middle-class families.

Samuel Akinsanya weeps as he follows the casket of his mother, long-time Nurse, Esther Iyabode Akinsanya, 55, to her final resting place at the Woolwich Cemetery in South London, June 22, 2020. Akinsanya was a long-time nurse, who died on April 15th after contracting Covid-19 alongside her sister, who was also a nurse, while working at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London. One sister lived, and one sister died. The United Kingdom, with over 80,000 COVID-19-related deaths, has one of the highest death rates in Europe.

Funeral director of Taunton Funeral Services, Anthony James, prepares to embalm a man who died from suspected COVID-19 at his funeral home in Taunton, Somerset, England, May 1, 2020. For the initial wave of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom, the elderly who died in nursing homes were often not being tested for Coronavirus, nor counted toward the national death toll.
The UK government offered guidance on the risks of handling deceased infected with COVID-19, but funeral directors like James had to decide for themselves whether to take the risk to embalm victims as per the family’s wishes-as embalming releases air from the cavity of the body, and is considered a high-risk activity.
The United Kingdom was one of the last in Europe to call for a nationwide lockdown to prevent large-scale deaths and illness from the Coronavirus, and their current death toll is now one of the highest in Europe.

Two sisters, Tricia Tattershall, 68, left, and Christine Baker, 72, right (and their nephew, Ricky Caddy), say goodbye to their only brother, Eric Hallett, 76, outside Wakely & Sons Funeral Home, in Crewkerne, in southwest England, on May 4. He passed away in a nursing home, and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sisters were unable to attend his funeral in a local crematorium, due to a limit on the number of mourners who can safely fit inside. Hallett’s sisters and other family members lined the streets as his coffin made the journey from the funeral home to the crematorium.

Claire Callender, 57, who is a funeral director and co-founder of The Green Funeral Company, is helped by her partner, Ru Callender, 49, to lower her mother’s body into the ground at the traditional burial grounds in Totnes, England, April 23, 2020. Claire never intended to arrange her own mother’s funeral, but because of the restrictions on funerals due to Covid-19, she lead a funeral service for her mother, Rosemary Phillips, who died of natural causes at 84. Claire used Zoom to include her siblings and father in the funeral service remotely, as no one was able to travel due to the pandemic.

Nearly one hundred graves are pre-dug in preparation for a possible surge in COVID-19-related deaths at the Taunton Deane Crematorium, located in rural Somerset county, South West England, April 27, 2020. The number of graves dug was calculated based on projected government figures early on in the pandemic.

Six women caretakers and loved ones share in a moment of meditation as they surround the body of Jacob Robert Burbea, 54, who passed away from Pancreatic cancer 48 hours prior, before carrying him out and passing him over to the undertakers in Staverton, South West England, May 9, 2020. Because of COVID-19, Burbea chose to live out his final six weeks at home, rather than in a hospital, in order to have time with his loved ones, and be isolated in a COVID-ridden medical facility. While none of the women were professionally trained nurses, they were advised by nurses and hospice workers and were able to care for him until the end.

Jake Kill, a pallbearer and driver for Stoneman Funeral Services, searches for the proper-sized coffin as new victims of COVID-19 are loaded into the garage, which was being used as a makeshift storage space for victims of the Coronavirus, at the funeral home in Surrey, south of London, May 22, 2020. Due to the potential infectiousness of the body of any person thought to have died with the Coronavirus, protective precautions were taken by funeral workers handling the deceased. Suspected and confirmed COVID-19 bodies are frequently stored separately.

An employee of Taunton Funeral Services attaches a name tag to the wrist of a patient who died that morning of suspected COVID-19 in a nursing home in Somerset, south west England, April 2020.

Samuel Akinsanya, center right, his partner, Rebekah Anderson, and his aunt Mary Idowu, 62, second from left, are joined by a small group of loved ones as they bid farewell to Akinsanya’s mother and Idowu’s younger sister, Esther Iyabode Akinsanya, 55, who died on April 15, 2020 after contracting Covid-19, at the Woolwich cemetery in south London, June 22, 2020. Esther Akinsanya was working alongside her sister, Mary Idowu, 62, as a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, for more than two decades, and they both contracted COVID-19 at roughly the same time; Esther passed away, and Idowu--still recovering from COVID-19-- was released from the hospital for several hours to be able to say goodbye to her sister.