Israel's leading photojournalism contest unveiled its winners Tuesday at Tel Aviv's Eretz Israel Museum. The exhibition features 170 powerful works – including 124 photographs and multiple video installations – selected from over 8,600 submissions by the museum's curator.
Chen G. Schimmel's haunting image of a volunteer cleaning bloodstains in a Be'eri home where an elderly resident was murdered on Oct. 7 earned Photo of the Year.
Series of the Year went to Ziv Koren of Yedioth Ahronoth for documenting the Golan family's journey – from the moment parents Ariel and Ellay shielded their baby Yael from a Hamas-thrown gas bomb in Kfar Aza, through their ongoing recovery at Sheba Medical Center.
Video honors went to Shelly Shalev for her hopeful portrayal of mental illness.
Reuters photographer Amir Cohen captured the emotional homecoming of freed hostage Aviva Siegel after 50 days in captivity. Her husband, Keith, remains held in Gaza.
Other winning shots include Haaretz photographer Moti Milrod's documentation of Hamas terrorists in Gaza's Shuja'iyya neighborhood, Israel Hayom's Yehoshua Yosef's coverage of religious protests at a Tel Aviv high school, and Michael Giladi's dramatic capture of horses fleeing rocket-sparked fires in the Golan Heights.
The collection, representing work from 69 photographers, provides a powerful visual record of a year that reshaped Israeli society.
