2024 Feature Picture Story
First Place: Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Paraguay a few months ago launched an operation to address some of the many problems plaguing its prison system, including internal gang control, but one problem in particular has proven difficult to deal with: overcrowding. The South American nation has 18 prisons with a capacity for almost 10,000 inmates, but the current population exceeds 17,600, according to the latest figures provided by authorities which go until the end of 2023. A country of more than 6 million inhabitants, Paraguay is considered a regional drug trafficking hub. Prisoners peer from their group cell in the late afternoon, to be unlocked in the morning, as another prisoner prepares to enter another group cell to be locked for the night at the Regional Penitentiary in Villarica, Paraguay, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
An inmate uses a phone as another gives the number to dial at a pay-by-the-minute phone booth set up and run by prisoners at the Regional Penitentiary in Villarica, Paraguay, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. Most inmates' calls get paid for by their families when they come to visit in person.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
A prisoner divides up jail-provided soup known as "vori vori" at the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. The soup, made of chicken or beef, vegetables, and corn balls stuffed with cheese, is considered the food of the poorest inmates, and those who can afford it prefer to buy other food.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Prisoners line up for a jail-provided meal known as "vori-vori" at the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. The soup, made of chicken or beef, vegetables, and corn balls stuffed with cheese, is considered the food of the poorest inmates, and those who can afford it prefer to buy other food.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
A prisoner rests in an external corridor of the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Sunday, July 8, 2024.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Prisoners play soccer at the Juan de la Vega prison in Emboscada, Paraguay, Friday, July 12, 2024.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Prisoners reach out from their cell for bread at lunchtime at the Juan de la Vega prison in Emboscada, Paraguay, Friday, July 12, 2024.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Prisoners keep warm with blankets in the courtyard of the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Monday, July 9, 2024. Prisoners are allowed to be outside of their cellblocks until 4pm.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
A urinal is located along an observation walkway for security guards at the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Sunday, July 8, 2024.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Prisoners sit in their cell block at the Regional Penitentiary in Villarica, Paraguay, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Prisoners eat dinner in their cell at the Juan de la Vega prison in Emboscada, Paraguay, Friday, July 12, 2024.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
First Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Prisoners smoke crack inside the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Sunday, July 8, 2024. Drugs are not allowed but some manage to smuggle them into the jail.
Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press
Second Place: Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Second Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
This series documents the artistry and soul that goes into Black funerals. Despite sorrowful, solemn and sometimes tragic circumstances, Black funerals are often marked by a spirit of celebration. A homegoing, as the Black Christian tradition is called, commemorates the return of the deceased to the Lord. I spent three months behind the scenes at Willie Watkins Funeral Home in Atlanta, attending services, following employees on their daily duties and talking to bereaved families. Carroll Brown (second from right), mother-in-law of Marcus Johnson, 50, walks away after viewing Johnsons casket in Lithonia, Georgia on Friday, November 10, 2023.
Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Second Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
A funeral attendant carries a crown for Beverly Brown, 69, at Willie Watkins Funeral Home chapel in Atlanta on December 30, 2023. For those who choose a crowning ceremony, a tiara or crown is placed on the head of the deceased before closing the casket to represent the concept of becoming royalty in heaven.
Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Second Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Christine King Farris, Martin Luther King Jr.s last surviving sibling, lies in state at the Georgia Capitol in 2023. She was only the fourth Black Georgian to lie in state at the Capitol, and Willie Watkins Funeral Home performed the services for all of them, including Coretta Scott King, John Lewis and C.T. Vivian.
Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Second Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Funeral attendants Justin Mayes and Preston Hall watch the service of Julian Reeder at Fountain of Faith Missionary Baptist Church in Riverdale, Georgia on Jan. 5, 2024. Their top hats are an element of a Willie Watkins signature service that families can order to add another level of formality to a homegoing. I wanted to do something to honor [Julian] in the most high way that we could, says sister Tova Reeder.
Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Second Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
A mourner is swept up in gospel song during the homegoing of Marcus Johnson at Willie Watkins Funeral Home chapel on Nov. 11, 2023.
Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Second Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
A worker helps move horses and a carriage into a trailer during the funeral for Betty Lue Surry in Atlanta on Jan. 6, 2024. Willie Watkins Funeral Home has a fleet of four horse-drawn carriages, one of which dates from the 1700s, Watkins says.
Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Second Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Funeral attendant Preston Hall places a crown on Julian Reeder at Fountain of Faith Missionary Baptist Church in Riverdale, Georgia on Jan. 5, 2024, as the song I Shall Wear a Crown plays.
Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Second Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Justin Mayes applies makeup to Betty Lue Surry, 88, at Willie Watkins Funeral Home in Atlanta on Jan. 5, 2024. Mayes, 30, has been working with Willie Watkins Funeral Home since he was 17. He became interested in working at a funeral home when he saw the body of a friend who died in an accident. I was expecting her to look really bad, he says, but she just looked asleep. As a mortician, he describes himself as a perfectionist. I always say, How would they look in heaven?
Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Second Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
A view of Willie Watkins Funeral Home in Atlanta on Jan. 2, 2024. Willie Watkins compares running a funeral home to a ministry. Were ministering to people, he says. They need someone they can talk to.
Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Second Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Friends and family of Tommie Lee Dixon Sr., 86, congregate on the front porch of Willie Watkins Funeral Home in Atlanta after a viewing for Dixon on Nov. 7, 2023.
Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Second Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
A horse-drawn carriage takes the body of Betty Lue Surry through Lincoln Cemetery in Atlanta on Jan. 6, 2024.
Arvin Temkar / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Third Place: Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Ukrainian military vehicles and civilian cars drive in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia, Ukraine, on August 11, 2024.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Yulia holds her newborn daughter Diana in a maternity hospital in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on January 24, 2024.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Nina Berenok, 62, visits on International Women's Day the grave of her daughter Valentyna Pushych, call sign "Chamomile", a Ukrainian military paramedic from the 72nd Mechanized Brigade who was killed outside Kyiv by Russian forces on the first days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, at a cemetery in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 8, 2024.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
An elderly woman prays in a church in Posad-Pokrovske, the village that was heavily damaged last year during fightings of Russian troops and Ukrainian army, in the Kherson region, Ukraine, on November 4, 2023.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Mykhailo Varvarych, 29, a Ukrainian amputee veteran, who was injured in the Lugansk region, rests with his wife Iryna during the qualifying competition for military members and veterans to join the Ukrainian national team for the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 1, 2024.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
A child plays as women rest on a bench in front of destroyed by shelling residential buildings in Kostyantynivka, Ukraines eastern Donetsk region, on June 22, 2024.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Ukrainian welders of the 24th Brigade work at a workshop for repairing military vehicles, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on January 25, 2024.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Residents riding in a tram look at a building damaged in an early morning Russian airstrike, in Druzhkivka, Ukraines eastern Donetsk region, on October 10, 2024.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
People walk past a military mural in Kyiv's Podil neighborhood, on February 22, 2024.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Ukrainian civilian women practice with weapons as they attend training for women focused on how to use weapons and combat medical kit, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 16, 2024.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
An elderly woman who was evacuated from the Vovchansk district waits in a minivan at an evacuation point in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on May 12, 2024.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Third Place - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Two attendees hug each other at the memorial area for commemorating Ukrainian and foreign fighters on "Defenders Day", at the Independence Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, on October 1, 2024.
Roman Pilipey / AFP
Honorable Mention: Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Wayne Roberts reaches over and touches his wife Lynne Roberts shoulder as she gazes out a window in their home on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023 in Butte. Ive been preparing for this for 13 years, Wayne said while speaking about being Lynnes caregiver. She was 9 years older than I was when I married her. I thought this might be something that I would have to do. This project is a picture story about end-of-life caregiving that follows Wayne Roberts providing care to his late wife, Lynne Roberts, over the course of 11 months, and will explore the rigors and rewards of family caregiving and the different stages of dying.
Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Wayne Roberts looks over at his wife Lynne Roberts after she completed an in-home occupational therapy session on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. Im not just her caregiver, shes mine, Wayne said while speaking about Lynne.
Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Wayne Roberts helps his wife Lynne Roberts try on a pair of pajamas the pair had just purchased at Walmart on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. Lynnes limited mobility makes changing her own clothes difficult, among other things, so Wayne helps her when she needs to change.
Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Lynne Roberts holds out her hand as her husband Wayne Roberts helps her take her medication on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. As Lynnes dementia progressed, her ability to manage her own medication decreased. In addition to managing Lynnes medication, Wayne manages their finances, day-to-day life, and medical issues.
Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Lynne Roberts makes her way through the kitchen back to her recliner after using the facilities early Wednesday morning on Feb. 14, 2024. Wayne became Lynnes shadow, as she started to fall and injure herself more and more, and would follow her around the house to ensure her safety, regardless of time of day.
Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
The Roberts sleep next to each other in their recliners early morning on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. Three nights a week when Wayne delivers papers into the early morning, he cat-naps between finishing work and the time that Lynne wakes up. While Lynne sleeping in a recliner is dictated by her inability to get into and out of her own bed, Wayne chooses to sleep in a recliner so he can be next to her. My goal is to make her last part of life as fright free, Wayne said. I never want her thinking she has to go alone.
Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Nichole Newby, a home health aide, helps Lynne Roberts bathe while her husband, Wayne Roberts, watches on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024 inside their home. As Lynnes mobility continued to worsen, Wayne remodeled the house to make it more accommodating to Lynne which included remodeling the bathroom to install this walk-in bathtub. This also marked the first time the Roberts accepted any sort of in-home health care services, which reflected Lynnes need for medical assistance outside of Waynes capabilities.
Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Lynne Roberts, now in hospice, holds her husband Wayne Roberts hand on Monday, May 27, 2024. Due to difficulty swallowing, Lynne has moved away from solid foods, and drinks water through a straw or by sucking on a wet sponge. This is no way to live, Lynne said.
Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Lynne Roberts rests with her eyes closed after her husband Wayne Roberts administers her medication on Friday, May 17, 2024. It tastes like shit, Lynne had previously said with a chuckle about what her medications taste like. Among other drugs, Lynne was on heavy doses of morphine to help manage her pain and methadone to help manage addiction to morphine.
Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Wayne Roberts and a family friend who asked not to be identified sit with Lynne in what they expect to be her last day of life, on Monday, May 27, 2024. Its a conflict. I want to take care of her, I want her to be happy. And I want her to die, said Wayne. Its the worst thing. I mean shes been a free spirit her whole life and then to have someone tell you that you cant get out of bed ever again? How do you reconcile those two feelings?
Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Wayne Roberts grasps the hand of an employee with Axelson Funeral & Cremation Services as the body of Lynne Roberts is taken away after her death early that morning on Thursday, June 6, 2024. I feel so torn, Wayne had previously said of Lynne dying. I feel like my heart has been ripped in two and left with jagged edges. One side of it doesnt want to let her go. And the other sure wishes that she would peacefully cross.
Joseph Scheller
Honorable Mention - 2024 Feature Picture Story
Wayne Roberts divides the ashes of his late-wife Lynne Roberts into small containers to be shipped off to family members on Saturday, June 15, 2024 inside of a friends home. Wayne moved out of the home he and Lynne shared almost immediately after her death. Lynne was cremated without a funeral. Therell never be another one like her, said Wayne. There just wont be. And shes leaving me. Im not leaving her.
Joseph Scheller