A Honduran girl cries while her mother is searched on the border between the United States and Texas. A Cuban girl celebrates her quinceañera, becomes an adult at 15 and also a potential bride. Two Iranian fans are among the only women allowed to follow the Asian Champions League final. A former US marine bathes at home after being raped in the shower during military training.

These are just some of the most beautiful shots in the world to have won the World Press Photo, the most important international photojournalism competition which, for the third consecutive year, will be on show in Palermo. Organized by the Dutch foundation of the same name since 1955, it arrives in Sicily thanks to the efforts of Cime di Vito Cramarossa.

The 2019 World Press Photo exhibition will be hosted from Friday 6 September to Sunday 6 October at Palazzo Drago Airoldi in Santa Colomba, at number 382 in via Vittorio Emanuele, the historic eighteenth-century residence with stucco work by Serpotta which belonged to the marquis Casimiro Drago in the heart of Cassaro. Palermo has also been chosen for this year among the 100 cities in the world, in over 45 countries, which will host the unpublished shots of the new edition of World Press Photo, confirming itself as one of the most popular stops in Italy. On display in Palermo there will be 144 photos selected as images that tell the story of 2018. Among these also the winner of the first prize, the World Press Photo of The Year 2019. It is "Crying Girl on the Border" by John Moore from Getty Image agency, a shot that immortalizes Yanela, a Honduran child of about two years, during a desperate cry while her mother, Sandra Sanchez, who held her in her arms, is forced by an agent of the American border police on the border with Mexico to put it on the ground to be searched.

This year's winning photos were chosen from 78,801 photographs by 4,738 photographers who participated in the competition from 129 different countries.

(Ansa)