Budapest International Photo Awards Have Announced Their Winners Of 2021, And They’re Truly Powerful (30 Pics)

"This is the submerged forest in Lake Shusenko. Lake Shusenko is so beautiful."
Photograph: Hirotaka Shindo

"Two migrant girls mourn during clashes between refugees and riot police on the Greek Island of Lesbos on February 3, 2020 in Mytilene, Greece. Refugees protested against the terrible conditions in which they lived inside the Moria refugee camp. Moria was the largest refugee camp in Europe, providing temporary shelter to around 20,000 asylum seekers before the fires and its final abandonment in September 2020."

Photograph: Ivan Romano

"I grew up being called a midget by friends and family, who believed it was endearing to call me so. But as a result, I have battled with the concept of beauty, self-love and appreciation of myself beyond my physical appearance for all of my life. When my eight-year-old daughter came back home to ask if she is beautiful, it hit me the most. Changing the Conversation is a personal series that speaks of beauty as not a bondage but a concept that frees you. Beauty is not this or that; pretty or ugly. Beauty exists beyond binaries."

Photograph: Sujata Setia

"During my expedition to the volcanic area of Fagradalsfjall in southwestern Iceland, it was the first photo just after the first contact with lava and the ubiquitous poisonous gas. Volcanoes are a rare opportunity to observe the complete transformation of the landscape. Places that were only recently valleys and meadows became hills, craters and lava fields. Being there was a great experience."

Photograph: Filip Hrebenda

"Every autumn is the harvest season of persimmons. Rural women are busy harvesting and making the remainders into dry cakes. The series of photos show the women's spirit of enduring hardships and hard works."
Photograph: Yu Ling Ho

"The history of the Soviet Union is a clear example of how propaganda shapes the worldview, values and way of life of a person. We, who were born in the Soviet Union, sincerely believed in the values that we were inspired in early childhood. And only during perestroika [the reformation movement] we discovered the Other World."

Photograph: Svetlana Melik-Nubarova

"I have spent a year capturing all these mysterious and beautiful images of the universe, including galaxies and nebulas. Every image was shot for at least 25 hours, which means multiple nights per final image. Most of the images were taken at a dark site located in west Texas. Every night I watched the stars while my equipment is working, it makes me think of how tiny we are as human beings, and how little colour and luminosity we can perceive with our eyes."

Photograph: Zixiong Jin

"At a Black Lives Matter protest in Cairns, Australia, US citizen Hermela Bealfan cries as she lies on the ground for eight minutes and 46 seconds – the time it took police officer Derek Chauvin to kill George Floyd by kneeling on his neck in Minneapolis. Cairns residents came out in their hundreds not only to protest against Floyd’s murder but also the Australian indigenous death toll ‘in custody’ – at the time 432 since 1991."

Photograph: Brian Cassey

"In the far north of Russia, on the Taymyr peninsula, indigenous peoples continue to live according to the traditional way of life. They wander from place to place with their herds of deer. They spend all year in the tundra from birth to ripe old age, except for the time when children leave to study in boarding schools. It was surprising for me to learn that they are not hostages of the situation, they have a choice. Many families have apartments in settlements, but they do not want to live in them – choosing to roam the endless expanses."

Photograph: Yulia

"Floods in South Sudan have triggered food insecurity across the country. About 1.3 million children suffer from acute malnutrition, exacerbated by the spread of malaria and drinking water made unsafe by the floods, which have affected a million people since July 2020. Jonglei state is at the heart of the devastation. This project documents the devastation on three levels: natural disaster, food insecurity and loss of dignified living."
Photograph: Peter Caton

"What if we could see sound? We would be immersed in amazing shapes drawn by acoustic waves in space. Thanks to Cymatics, we can go beyond the limits of our senses, and visualize the patterns created by a sound frequency on a fluid’s surface. The Resonance photographic project is a tribute to the secret beauty of Nature by showing the fascinating shapes generated on water by natural objects’ sounds (both Earthly and astronomic), which draw in front of the camera’s lens the invisible symphony of reality. Photos here presented: Magma, Stalagmite, Geyser, Fire, Snowstorm, Beluga, Blu whale.

Simone Arrigoni (Rome, 1973) is a classical pianist, freediving world champion (21 world records) and an award-winning photographer (FIOF Italian Photography Ambassador in China 2017 & Underwater Photography Festival Ambassador) with more than 100 awards in the most prestigious international photo contests, publications and worldwide exhibitions (China, Crimea, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Singapore, UK, USA)."

Photograph: Simone Arrigoni

"Modern Indian society seems to be not able to modify some aspects belonging to the most orthodox Hindu culture, according to which a widow no longer has any right or social utility, and loses her identity when the husband dies. Kicked out of houses, they are banned from all social moments of life. A phenomenon that crosses all social classes, doubly enclosed within the walls of the ashrams and the cultural prisons of a society that prefers to make them invisible rather than questioning themselves."

Photograph: Valter Darbe

"In March 2020, I was on a volunteering trip in Congo, Kimpese. Here is a leprosy colony... Leprosy can be cured if discovered in time, but unfortunately many do not notice in time. Gabriel is already 75 years old, he has lived here 20 years. Still hoping, many were healed and gone. But unfortunately society excludes them, they think evil spirits have invaded them. Who is denied. There is hope for recovery, but there is no hope of being welcomed back into their family.

I am 32 years old, Hungarian woman. I was born and raised in Romania. I am a passion traveller, during my travels I look for people's real face, life, past, future... I connect all my travels with volunteering... so my main goal is helping."

Photograph: Emese Balázs-Fülöp

"A child inside a car near a forest fire in Oliveira de Frades, northern Portugal, 7 September 2020. This forest fire mobilised 327 firemen, 103 land vehicles and eight airplanes."

Photograph: Nuno André