2023: A Year in Photos

Revisit our most impactful photojournalism of the year 

Our 2023 Year in Photos celebrates photojournalistic work published between December 2022 and November 2023. The featured images come from talented and dedicated photographer grantees and reporting partners within the Pulitzer Center network. Their work exposes us to underreported stories from all around the globe. This reporting contributes to strengthening communities, developing solutions, and engaging us to take part in the victories and challenges present in our ever-changing world. 

These photos were selected from hundreds of powerful images to help visualize and humanize many significant moments captured in Pulitzer Center-supported reporting projects this year. Photography puts a face to the numbers, distilling complex data into observable stories that center on real people. 

In Peru, one photographer lived with groups of informal miners involved in armed confrontations. Off the coast of Florida, another photographer plunged below the ocean surface to capture the stark white of corals that "stand like ghosts." These images demonstrate the photographers' patience, resilience, and dedication to the multifaceted craft of storytelling. 

Together, they describe the unique and shared struggles we face and how communities around the globe confront and solve these challenges, from climate change and its effects on laborers, to Indigenous language preservation. Please join us in celebrating a powerful year in visual storytelling by viewing the photos and reading behind-the-scenes insights from the photographers. 

Best, 

IMPACT

This year, a number of Pulitzer Center-supported projects have been recognized as some of the strongest global health, data, and investigative reporting. 

“The Rise of Indigenous Doulas” by grantee Jenna Kunze and photographer Jessica Lázaro Moss was named one of the best stories on global health in 2023 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The work highlights the leadership roles of Indigenous doulas protecting Native American and Alaska Native women. 

Amazon Underworld, a Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN) project by RIN Fellow Bram Ebus and collaborators, was listed among the top 10 data journalism projects of the year by the Global Investigative Journalism Network. The project includes a database and interactive map of groups profiting from crime and instability in the Amazon. 

Corruption: The System Behind the Looting of Cameroon’s Forests, an RIN series by Fellow Josiane Kouagheu and Pulitzer Center Africa editor Madeleine Ngeunga, was featured by the Global Investigative Journalism Network among the best investigative stories in French in 2023.

This message first appeared in the December 22, 2023, edition of the Pulitzer Center's weekly newsletter. Subscribe today.

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