© John Stanmeyer

American photographer John Stanmeyer won the 2013 World Press Photo of the Year for a picture depicting African migrants standing at the beach in Djibouti, holding cell phones aloft so we can get a reasonable wireless signal from neighboring Somalia so that they could reach family abroad. The arena Press Organization announced the winners of the 57th annual contest at a press conference February 14 in Amsterdam.

Stanmeyer, a member of the photo agency VII, shot the winning photograph for National Geographic. This year’s chair of the jury was photojournalist Gary Knight, who co-founded the photo agency VII. In a press release released by World Press Photo, jury member Jillian Edelstein, a photographgrapher from South Africa, said, “It’s a photo it really is connected to such a lot of other stories—it opens up discussions about technology, globalization, migration, poverty, desperation, alienation, humanity. It’s an extremely sophisticated, powerfully nuanced image. It’s so subtly done, so poetic, yet instilled with meaning, conveying problems with great gravity and concern on the earth today.”

Stanmeyer will receive a ten,000 Euro award and other prizes at a ceremony to be held in Amsterdam in April.

The World Press Photo Contest honors outstanding photojournalism, both single pictures and photo stories, in numerous categories, including Spot News, General News, People within the News, Sports, Contemporary Issues, Everyday life, Arts and Entertainment, Portraits, and Nature.

Stanmeyer’s winning image also won first prize within the Contemporary Issues category. Category winners each receive a 1,500 Euro prize. Photos by the entire World Press Photo winners would be featured in an exhibition that opens in Amsterdam on April 18, and so that you can then travel to 100 cities in 45 countries.

Several American photographers were among the many category winners and runners up. Photographer Sara Naomi Lewkowicz won first prize in Contemporary Issues Stories for her series on domestic violence which was published by TIME; Steve Winter won first prize within the Nature Stories category for a chain on cougars for National Geographic. Andrea Bruce took second place in Everyday life Singles for a picture of a soldier’s funeral in Syria. Peter van Agtmael received second prize inside the People – Observed Portraits Stories category for his story a few wounded Iraq veteran. Tyler Hicks received second prize in Spot News Stories for his coverage of the Westgate Mall shooting for The hot York Times. John Tlumacki received second prize in Spot News Singles for his photograph of the Boston Marathon bombing, which was published within the Boston Globe. Al Bello took third prize in Sports Action Singles for a picture of tennis star Novak Djokovic. Donald Miralle, Jr. took third prize in Sports Feature Singles for a picture of free divers in Hawaii. Alyssa Schukar took third prize in Sports Feature Stories for her images of ladies competing in a lingerie football league. And Ezra Shaw received second prize in Sports Action Stories for his coverage of the America’s Cup sailing race.

The judges gave a distinct mention to a sequence of six images shot by amateur photographer Tim Holmes in Dunalley, Tasmania, Australia. The pictures, which went viral and were distributed by AP, depict Holmes’ family seeking refuge near a jetty from wildfires that destroyed 90 homes.

A full list of winners is offered at the World Press Photo site, here. A gallery of all of the winning images is out there here.