Rodigo Abd, Photographer of the Year 2025

Series of photos taken in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, the United States, and Peru between 2023, 2024, and 2025.

A protester runs and his false teeth fall out while police on motorcycles try to disperse protesters during a protest for better pensions for retirees in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

March in support of retirees at the National Congress. Soccer fans, repression, chaos, serious injuries. Buenos Aires, March 12, 2025.

A sign that reads in Spanish: “Do not Pollute” , is seen next to the road that connects Antofagasta with San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, Friday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Pools where lithium is processed inside the lithium extraction plant facilities of SQM Lithium Company near Peine, Chile, Tuesday, April 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Men participate in a rodeo in the Western Navajo Fair in Tuba City, Arizona, Friday, October 18, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In Guayaquil, Ecuador, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023. Ecuador will hold a presidential run-off on October 15. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Military forces men to do exercises because they do not have the documents for the motorcycle they use, during a patrol In Duran, outskirts from Guayaquil, Ecuador, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. Ecuador will hold a presidential run-off on October 15. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Spectators watch a film from boats during the Muyuna Floating Film Festival, celebrating tropical forests, in the Belen neighborhood of Iquitos, Peru, Sunday, May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

People gather in the Nanay bridge in Iquitos, Peru, Sunday, May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Paraguay’s 18 prison complexes have a total capacity for 9,975 people, but the Paraguayan prison system holds 17,675 inmates, which translates into an overcrowding rate of 177%, according to the 2023 Annual Public Management Report issued by the Ministry of Justice. Inside, problems common to prisons not only in Paraguay but throughout Latin America are repeated: overcrowding, lack of privacy, and precarious conditions.

Prisoners who are already locked in their cell block until the next morning look out from a fence in Villarica, Paraguay, Saturday, Aug.31, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Prisoners called “Cambodians” in the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Sunday, July 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Prisoners smoke crack in a pavilion where the prisoners are called “Cambodians” in the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Sunday, July 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A urinal located in one of the perimeters used by security guards in the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Sunday, July 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Prisoners walk through a courtyard of the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Monday, July 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A security guard shows the knife he has to defend himself in case of attack by prisoners outside the prison in Villarica, Paraguay, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Prisoners called “Cambodians” line up to receive lunch in the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Prisoners ask by sticking their hands out from behind bars during the distribution of bread in Juan de la Vega prison, in Emboscada, Paraguay, Friday, July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A volunteer does some stretching exercises for a prisoner during family visiting day in Villarica, Paraguay, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Transgender Magali Vargas, 29, poses for a picture while cleaning the yard with a hose inside the prison in Coronel Oviedo, Paraguay, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Cenotes are part of one of Mexico’s natural wonders: a system of approximately 10,000 caves, rivers, and underground lakes that wind beneath the Yucatan Peninsula in the southeast of the country. The construction of the Maya Train—the flagship project of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador—is destroying much of this hidden underground world, which has already been threatened for decades by urban development and mass tourism. Stretching nearly 1,600 kilometers, the Maya Train will travel across the Yucatan Peninsula to connect tourist cities such as Cancun and Playa del Carmen with remote communities and archaeological sites nestled in the jungle, promising to bring economic development. Scientists and environmentalists warn that the train will spell environmental disaster in the long term.

Two trees are located at the entrance of a tourist complex as decoration in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Thursday, March 7, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A commuter looks at the jungle from the window of the Mayan Train on the route from Cancun to Valladolid, Mexico, Wednesday, March 6, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Tourists enjoy a party inside a cenote in Tulum, Mexico, Saturday, March 2, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Biologist Roberto Rojo, left, observes the stalactites near a steel pillar located to support part of the structure built for the Mayan Train inside Oppenheimer, part of the Aktun Tuyul cave system on the outskirts of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Friday, March 8, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Biologist Roberto Rojo, left, collects garbage during the cleaning of a cenote by the group of volunteers “Cenotes Urbanos”, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Saturday, March 2, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Tourists jump in the cenote Car Wash in Rancho Viejo, Mexico, Wednesday, March 1, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A fish swims inside the cenote Car Wash in Rancho Viejo, Mexico, Wednesday, March 1, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A passenger’s hat is seen on the seats of the Mayan Train on the route from Cancun to Valladolid, Mexico, Wednesday, March 6, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

An aerial view of the construction of the Mayan Train near Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Friday, March 1, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

The hole produced so that the steel pillar can enter the cavern to support part of the structure built for the Mayan Train inside Oppenheimer, part of the Aktun Tuyul cave system on the outskirts of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Friday, March 1, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

On Sunday, March 6, 2023, an armed man broke into the peaceful neighborhood of “Los Pumitas” in Rosario, Argentina, and shot at a group of children. Among them was Máximo Jerez, an 11-year-old boy who died instantly. Three other children, including one only two years old, were injured. On Monday, after Máximo’s funeral, the tension in the neighborhood became unbearable. Family members and neighbors tried to lynch those they identified as drug dealers and then destroyed their distribution dens called “bunkers.” The episode occurred just days after Lionel Messi and his family received threats, exposing the increasingly critical situation in Rosario. A city that in recent years has been hit by the expansion of drug trafficking networks with a growing number of homicides.

Neighbors and relatives of Máximo Jerez, the 11-year-old boy murdered in the middle of a shootout between drug gangs, attack the house of a man they accuse of selling drugs in the Los Pumitas neighborhood, in Rosario, Argentina, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Neighbors shout for help while assisting Veronica Lopez, aunt of Máximo Jerez, the 11-year-old boy murdered in the middle of a shootout between drug gangs in Los Pumitas neighborhood, in Rosario, Argentina, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A woman walks next to a fire lit by neighbors and relatives of Máximo Jerez, the 11-year-old boy murdered in the middle of a shootout between drug gangs, while attacking the house of a man they accuse of selling drugs in the Los Pumitas neighborhood, in Rosario, Argentina, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Dogs fight while neighbors and relatives of Máximo Jerez, the 11-year-old boy murdered in the middle of a shootout between drug gangs, loot a house of a man they accuse of selling drugs in the Los Pumitas neighborhood, in Rosario, Argentina, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A man a man carries a mattress while attacking the house of a man neighbors accuse of selling drugs in the Los Pumitas neighborhood, after the burial of Máximo Jerez, the 11-year-old boy murdered in the middle of a shootout between drug gangs, in Rosario, Argentina, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Neighbors and relatives of Máximo Jerez, the 11-year-old boy murdered in the middle of a shootout between drug gangs, destroy the house of a man they accuse of selling drugs in the Los Pumitas neighborhood, in Rosario, Argentina, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Antonia Jerez, aunt of Máximo Jerez, the 11-year-old boy murdered in the middle of a shootout between drug gangs in Los Pumitas neighborhood, waits to be interviewed by a tv reporter in Rosario, Argentina, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. The death of an 11-year-old boy over the weekend added alarm and anger in Argentina over the city’s escalating violence, following the written threat left last Thursday when assailants opened fire on a supermarket owned by Messi’s in-laws.
(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

An aerial view of Los Pumitas neighborhood, where Máximo Jerez, the 11-year-old boy murdered in the middle of a shootout between drug gangs, in Rosario, Argentina, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. The death of an 11-year-old boy over the weekend added alarm and anger in Argentina over the city’s escalating violence, following the written threat left last Thursday when assailants opened fire on a supermarket owned by Messi’s in-laws.
(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A girl runs as border police agents patrol in Los Pumitas neighborhood, where Maximo Jerez, an 11-year-old boy killed early Sunday when at least one gunmen attacked a birthday party, in Rosario, Argentina, Thursday, March 9, 2023. Argentina’s president said Tuesday he will send hundreds more federal security forces to the central city of Rosario where drug violence has drawn international attention due to a recent threat against soccer star Lionel Messi. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A chair is seen inside a point of sale of drugs, better known as “Bunker”, destroyed by relatives and neighbors of Máximo Jerez, the 11-year-old boy murdered in the middle of a shootout between drug gangs, in Pumitas neighborhood, in Rosario, Argentina, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. The death of an 11-year-old boy over the weekend added alarm and anger in Argentina over the city’s escalating violence, following the written threat left last Thursday when assailants opened fire on a supermarket owned by Messi’s in-laws. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In the years following the 2001 US invasion and the overthrow of the Taliban regime, Rodrigo Abd spent months in Afghanistan and learned how to use a traditional Afghan box camera: a handmade camera and darkroom all in one. Abd returned in 2023 with an idea: to use this nearly extinct Afghan art form to document how life has changed in peacetime, for better or worse, two years after the withdrawal of US troops and the return of the Taliban to power.

Villagers work in a wheat field on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan, Saturday, June 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Hakimeh, 55, is embraced by her daughter Fereshte, 17, while posing for a portrait in a carpet factory where they work in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, May 29, 2023. Mother and daughter have been working together in this carpet workshop for a year. Before working in a carpet workshop, Hakimeh worked in the homes of rich people. Her husband is a laborer who works with a cart in the city. Fereshte has studied until the eighth grade, but after the schools are closed, she can no longer go to school and works to earn money and support her family.
(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Children that work in a brick factory helping their parents pose for the picture in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Nikbakht, 70, works in a carpet factory in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, May 29, 2023. Nikbakht’s husband and three sons have died of illness. She has other five daughters who are married. She lives with one of her daughters. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Zulikha, 32, poses with her daughters Fatemeh, 12, right, and Manijeh, 15, while taking a break from her job in a carpet factory in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, May 29, 2023. Zulikha’ daughters can no longer go to school due to the closure of secondary schools. The girls said that working in the carpet factory its very hard but they have no choice and must work, because they can help their family. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Actor Nabi Atta, 74, poses por the picture in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Nabi has appeared in more than 76 films and 12 series. After the Taliban banned the cinema in the country, he is unemployed and facing severe economic problems. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Faithful pray inside the Jama Masjid mosque also known as Great Mosque in Herat, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Children play near Kart-e Sakhy cemetery in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Ibrahim ,30, poses for a picture with his daughters, from left to right, Arzo ,10, Okhkulah, 9, Rana, 8, Abobaker, 7, while taking a break from working in a brick factory in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 30, 2023. is a seasonal brick worker, he comes in summer like other thousand villagers to work in the brick factories and then goes back to Nangarhar where he lives the rest of the year. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Pigeons fly near Shah-Do Shamshira Mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

What the Jury Said About the Winner, Rodrigo Abd · Photographer of the Year 2025

The following text is drawn —from the public transcript of the POY Latam 2025 judging— from the ideas and comments expressed by the jurors as they deliberated on the winning portfolio of Rodrigo Abd. Individual names are not cited, but the spirit of their interventions has been preserved, reflecting the richness of the collective debate.

“What is most impressive in this work is the consistency of vision. It is not only about a well-executed series, but about a broad portfolio, capable of sustaining with journalistic rigor and aesthetic strength different themes, contexts, and approaches. Here we understand that photojournalism is not merely the capture of an instant, but the patient construction of a narrative that helps us comprehend complex realities.”

Another juror highlighted the versatility of the portfolio: “Abd moves seamlessly between the immediacy of news and the intimacy of everyday life, without ever losing the clarity of his own voice. In each story there is an ethical commitment to the people portrayed, a sensitivity that avoids sensationalism, and at the same time, an ability to place events in a wider context. His images denounce, move, and explain.”

The final consensus was that this work embodies the spirit of POY Latam: honest, critical, and profoundly human documentary photography. “This portfolio reminds us that Ibero-American photojournalism is at its strongest moment. And that when a photographer like Rodrigo Abd manages to combine technique, narrative coherence, and social commitment, he not only documents the present: he builds memory for the future.”