An international jury of leading professionals in the field of photojournalism worldwide began judging the entries at the World Press Photo office in Amsterdam on 1 February headed by jury chair Michele McNally, director of photography and assistant managing editor of The New York Times.

Facts & figures
The 2015 Contest drew entries from around the world: 97,912 images were submitted by 5,692 press photographers, photojournalists, and documentary photographers from 131 countries.

New category: Long-Term Projects
A new category was launched this year, Long-Term Projects, and was welcomed with enthusiastic response by participants. A total of 14,583 images were entered, totaling 510 stories.