World Press Photo Awards 2008

A basketball match from Chris Detrick's portfolio that won him the third prize in the sports action stories category
Photograph: Chris Detrick/AP/The Salt Lake Tribune

Operation rock avalanche, Afghanistan, won first prize in the general news stories category
Photograph: Balazs Gardi/AFP/ANP/VII Network

Hunting the Narwal in Nunavut, Canada won second prize in the nature stories category
Photograph: Paul Nicklen/AP/National Geographic

The evacuation of dead mountain gorillas at Virunga National Park, Eastern Congo won first prize in the contemporary issues singles category
Photograph: Brent Stirton/AP/Getty Images for Newsweek

The evacuation of dead mountain gorillas at Virunga National Park, Eastern Congo won first prize in the contemporary issues singles category
Photograph: Brent Stirton/AP/Getty Images for Newsweek

A retired circus artist won the arts and entertainment stories first prize
Photograph: Rafal Milach/AFP/ANP/Anzenberger Agency

Freeride competitor Philippe Meier chased by an avalanche in Flaine, France won the sports action singles prize
Photograph: Ivaylo Velev/AFP/ANP Bul X Vision

Russian president Vladimir Putin, the photograph that won first prize for single portraits
Photograph: Platon/AFP/ANP/Time Magazine

Competitors crossing the Copenhagen marathon finish line won first prize for sports features
Photograph: Erik Refner/AFP/Berlingske Tidende

PKK fighters in southern Kurdistan/northern Iraq won first prize for people in the news
Photograph: Philippe Dudouit/EPA/Time Magazine

Mui, a homeless woman with HIV, and her son bathing in the Red River, Hanoi, Vietnam, the picture that was the first prize winner for daily life singles
Photograph: Justin Maxon/AFP/ANP/Aurora Photos

A girl in an animated character costume taken in Shanghai, China, winner of the arts and entertainment singles award
Photograph: Ariana Lindquist/AFP/ANP

Rural school girls in eastern Turkey, winner of the portraits stories prize
Photograph: Vanessa Winship/EPA/Agence Vu

Kenyan policemen chase opposition protesters who were looting goods from a shop in Kibera, a picture that won third prize in the category of spot news singles
Photograph: Stephen Morrison/EPA

An endangered plant at Wanzhou city garden sanctuary, China won first prize in the nature singles category
Photograph: Fang Qianhua/AP/Nangfan Dushi Daily/Southern Metropolis Daily