The 2016 World Press Photo winners — in pictures

An Australian freelance photographer took the top prize in this year's World Press Photo competition

Warren Richardson's photo — of a man handing a baby under barbed wire on the Serbian-Hungarian border — is lit only by moonlight, as he didn't want to alert police to the location of the refugees he was following.

"I camped with the refugees for five days on the border. A group of about 200 people arrived, and they moved under the trees along the fence line. They sent women and children, then fathers and elderly men first. I must have been with this crew for about five hours and we played cat and mouse with the police the whole night. I was exhausted by the time I took the picture," he told the World Press Photo Foundation.

Richardson's photo was only one of many winners who were documenting the refugee crisis. But the photos covered a wide range of topics, including the Paris attacks, the earthquake in Nepal and protests in the US over police violence.

Note: Some images in this story may not be suitable for all audiences.

Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis

Refugees arrive by boat near the village of Skala on Lesbos, Greece, November 16, 2015.

Life in the Cult of Kim

At dusk, the skyline of central Pyongyang, North Korea, April 12, 2011.

March Against Terrorism in Paris

Demonstration against terrorism in Paris, after a series of five attacks occurred across the Île-de-France region, beginning at the headquarters for satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Paris, France, January 11, 2015.

Whale Whisperers

Divers observe and surround a humpback whale and her newborn calf whilst they swim around Roca Partida in the Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico, January 28, 2015.

Ivory Wars

A Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) fighter holds two ivory tusks. Ivory is a means of financing the LRA and is used for both food and weapon supplies. Near, Sudan, November 17, 2014.

An Antarctic Advantage

The winter expedition crew of a Russian research team and a Chilean scientist drink Samagon, a homemade vodka, in a bedroom of the Bellingshausen Antarctica base; Fildes Bay, Antartica, November 28, 2015.

March Against Police Violence

Lamon Reccord stares down a police sergeant during a protest following the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald by police in Chicago, Illinois, November 25, 2015.

Bliss Dharma Assembly

Tibetan prayer flags, known as Lung-ta, on a hillside in the Larung Valley of Sertar County, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, China, October 30, 2015.

Everest Base Camp, Nepal

Rescuers carry an injured person to a medical tent after the avalanche hit the Everest Base Camp. Nepal, April 25, 2015.

Tough Times for Orangutans

A veterinarian from International Animal Rescue carries a Bornean orangutan baby from a house where it was kept illegally as a pet in the village of Sungai Besar, West Kalimantan Province, Indonesia, July 27, 2015.

ISIS Fighter Treated at Kurdish Hospital

A doctor rubs ointment on the burns of a 16-year-old ISIS fighter named Jacob in front of a poster of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, at a YPG hospital compound on the outskirts of Hasaka, Syria.

Haze in China

A city in northern China shrouded in haze, Tianjin, China, December 10, 2015.

Gang-related Violence

The body of a victim killed in gang-related violence. This is the fourth gang-related killing on the same street in one night. Police have no witnesses. San Pedro Sula, Honduras. March 4, 2015.

See the full gallery here.