BEST IN SHOW (photo by Sarah Silbiger) Members of the National Guard rest in front of a statue of Abraham Lincoln at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in the early morning on January 13, 2021. Over 26,000 members of the National Guard were deployed to Washington in response to the attack on the Capitol on January 6th.
STUDENT BEST IN SHOW (photo by Yijo Shen) Fan-Zhen Meng, my 90-year-old grandpa, is lifted by his caregiver, Suprapti, for daily wound cleaning. My grandpa was born in mainland China and lived there until the age of 16. He lived a privileged life free from worries until 1949 when the Government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan ahead of the advancing Chinese Communist Party. My grandfather fled alone to Taiwan hoping one day he would see his family again. He built his life there as an educator. Decades passed but he was never able to see his parents, grandparents, and other elders again before they died. Seeing him in the last stages of his life signals to me the end of an era. Suprapti is also displaced. She left her husband and two-year-old daughter behind in Indonesia to find a better salary to support them. She has been caring for my grandpa for more than two years.
(photo by Sanwaree Sethi Robinson) Arlo (age 2), in early quarantine, when playgrounds were still off limits.
(photo by Carol Guzy/ZUMA Press) A politically divisive year resulted in a deadly insurrection as supporters of President Donald Trump breach the U.S. Capitol while election results are to be certified in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021.
(photo by Amanda Voisard/for The Washington Post) Congressional staff members are evacuated by the Capitol Police after rioters breached the Capitol interrupting the certification of the Electoral College votes by Congress, in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, January 6, 2021.
(photo by Candace Chambers) Trump supporters rail against counter-protestors outside the Supreme Court on November 14th, 2020. The "Stop the Steal" rally was organized to contest the 2020 presidential election results.
(photo by Astrid Riecken) Jazz saxophonist Julia Banholzer arrives for her performance at Bodeguita BK in Brooklyn, New York, NY, May 27, 2021, as part of the Gotham Yardbird Jazz series. Banholzer, who was born, raised and educated in Germany, has been making a living as a Jazz musician in NYC for several years despite heavy competition from her male counterparts.
(photo by Alyssa Schukar for the New York Times) People gather for Darryl Preissler’s viewing in May 2021. Preissler died after contracting Covid-19 at a family wedding a month prior. As of late May, about 450 Americans die every day from the coronavirus. Families losing a loved one now describe a surreal, lonely kind of grief, as the threat from the pandemic lessens in the United States.
(photo by Stefani Reynolds) U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington D.C. on Friday, September 25, 2020, following a campaign rally in Newport News, Virginia.
(photo by Sabrina Godin) A "Blue Lives Matter" flag blows in the wind next to a United States of America flag in Burrillville, Rhode Island on April 4th, 2021. Burrillville was one of the eleven towns that voted for Donald Trump's reelection causing a rise in displaying political views within the town.
(Amanda Voisard/for The Washington Post) Christine Uncles, left, embraces her mother, Cindi Uncles, while she holds the remains of her father, John F. Uncles, who died of covid-19 in April, at his funeral and internment service in Centreville, Va., on Dec. 12, 2021 - what would have been his 70th birthday.
(photo by Hadley Chittum) Lashonia and Sean Thompson-El bathe in the sunlight in their bedroom one Sunday morning in their home in Southeast DC. The couple works in community violence prevention and spend most weekends peacefully relaxing and decompressing from their stressful jobs and the outside world.
(photo by Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times) A couple sits among an art installation by Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg in Washington D.C. on Saturday, October 24, 2020. Firstenberg set up over 220,000 white flags outside the D.C. Armory to represent the nation’s death toll from the coronavirus at the time.
(Photo by Carol Guzy/ZUMA Press) Asylum-seeking migrants cross the Rio Grande River at the border with Mexico in Roma TX on May 6, 2021. A surge has been overwhelming U.S. facilities at the southern borders.
(photo by Bonnie Cash) Ryan Thomas, a 23-year-old surgical trauma intensive care unit nurse (STICU) sits in an ambulance at the Western Albemarle Rescue Squad station February 21, 2021. When not working 12 hour shifts at UVA Medical Center, Thomas volunteers as a paramedic. He began his career in August 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and struggles finding a balance between his career, friends, family and love for and reliance on nature as a tool for release.
(photo by Leigh Vogel) Attendees of the "Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" hold signs as they walk through the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on August 27, 2020. The march, organized by National Action Network, founded in 1991 by Reverend Al Sharpton, marks the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
(photo by Caroline Gutman) Dennis Hall, 64, poses for a portrait with his dog Bruce Little, 6, in their home in San Francisco, CA, on July 26, 2020. Dennis adopted Bruce Little in early 2020. There were approximately 15% more U.S. pet adoptions in 2020 than the previous year.
(photo by Sydney Walsh) An excerpt from my ongoing project (From There, To Here) that explores transracial and intercultural adoption and how it affects my personal identity. My sister, Téa (right) and I (left) sit on the rocks of a beach in Tequesta, Florida near our hometown on May 14, 2021. Our experiences as Asian American adoptees differ in many ways but we both share many experiences of racism.
(photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post) On a marine layer overcast morning in Sonoma County, farm workers from Wine to Vine labor company tend pinot noir and zinfandel vines at Elsbree Vineyard in Cloverdale, California Saturday May 15, 2021. Due to extreme drought expectations in the west farmers are planting less and allowing crops to go untended. With less farm land to farm Latinx farm workers have further struggles ahead in the agricultural economy.
(photo by Gabrielle Rhoads) Outside the White House, a man pours champagne into Keisha Campbell’s mouth in celebration of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election on November 7, 2020. Thousands of people flocked to the blocks surrounding the White House after Biden’s win was announced to celebrate the end of the Trump administration.
(photo by: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo) London Williams, 31, of Harrisburg, Pa., bursts into tears as he is overcome by emotion, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Washington, as he hears that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. Williams and Stephanie Toledo, right, were in town on a date and noticed people gathering in Black Lives Matter Plaza. Shortly before the verdict was read Williams said, "I feel very nervous to hear the result. It’s already hard as it is being a Black man in today’s society, if this doesn’t go right I don’t know how safe I will feel, it makes you scared for your own kids and their future.
(Photo by Candace Chambers) Protestors march outside the White House on September 23, 2020. The march was organized in response to the Kentucky Grand Jury's decision to not indict the officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor.
(photo by Sarah Baker) A young girl listens to speeches from the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial during the “March on Washington” for the 57th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech held on August 28, 2020.
(photo by Lianne Milton) In a self-portrait, my son breastfeeds at sunrise, on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, in Miami, Fl. The act of mothering is incredibly physical. As my son nurses, he digs his sharp nails into my chest. For me, breastfeeding is the only moment where my son and I one again. But the feeling of emptiness in my belly still lingers after his birth. I never imagined how strong this feeling of attachment would be. Defined by the pandemic’s parameters of isolation and separation, this past year redefined the ubiquitous yet powerful act of becoming a mother. The image is a part of a personal documentary project about becoming a mother during the pandemic.
(Photo by Camille Desanto) Kaylee Cornett reaches out to her foster kitten in her mother’s bedroom in Hanover, PA, Nov. 13, 2020.