World Press Photo of the Year: Suhaib Hijazi, 2, and his brother, Muhammad, 3, were killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their Gaza City house, photographer Paul Hansen said. Their father, Fouad, was also killed, Hansen said. In the photo, Fouad's brothers carry the children's bodies to a mosque for burial on November 20, 2012, while the father's body follows behind on a stretcher. The following are a selection of the other World Press Photo winners:
(CNN) -- For the 56th year, World Press Photo announced the winners of its annual contest Friday. The jury gave prizes in nine themed categories to 54 photographers of 32 nationalities for what is considered one of the most prestigious photojournalism honors.
Photos: Selection of World Press Photo's 2012 winners
This year's Photo of the Year, taken by Paul Hansen, is a striking image of the bodies of two young children carried through the streets of Gaza City after an Israeli airstrike on their home, the photographer said. They are being taken to a mosque for burial, their father's body carried on a stretcher behind them. Their mother was hospitalized.
The photograph humanizes what some may see as a politically charged situation.
But contest jury chair Santiago Lyon told CNN that there was no talk of it being controversial. Lyon is the vice president and director of photography for The Associated Press.
In two weeks, more than 103,000 images were narrowed down to about 10,000 in a first round of judging. A second round determined first, second and third place for one of nine themed categories.
This year's final round of judges were a global mix, Lyon said.
There were three things jurors were looking for in a winning image -- a photograph that reached the intellect, heart and stomach. The Gaza City photo accomplished that, Lyon said.
Photos: First place photographers react to winning World Press Photo prizes
"The strength of the pictures lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow of the adults with the innocence of the children. It's a picture I will not forget," Mayu Mohanna, a jury member from Peru, said in a World Press Photo press release.
The final images were discussed for several hours, and an anonymous vote cast Hansen's image as the picture of 2012.
"I thought it was a prank call," Swedish photographer Hansen said about hearing he'd won. "I have mixed feelings about it. It's a horrible picture."
The story behind the photo started the day before it was shot, he said. He and a colleague were talking to a Norwegian doctor in a hospital. The doctor told the story of a Gaza City family whose home had been destroyed in an Israeli airstrike. Two young boys and their father were killed, and their mother was sent to the intensive care unit.
The next day, on November 20, 2012, Hansen and his colleague set out to cover a funeral. It was for the woman's sons and husband whose bodies were marched through the neighborhood, their destroyed home unable to house grieving relatives.
The picture is one of 12 of the day's events, taken for a Swedish daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter.
When asked about the image's possible controversy, Hansen said it truthfully portrays the situation.
"You can see that they're dead, but it's not gruesome in any other way besides emotion," he said. The ability to portray something in a manner that doesn't make the reader turn away takes conscious balancing, Hansen said, adding that it's something for which he strives.
The emotion of the photograph remains strong for Hansen as well. He said he later cried.
"Crying is part of the job," he said. "If you're not there as a person first, why are you there?"
Lyon, the jury chair, said the judges looked at the photograph for its power.
"We felt that was the reality of the scene," he said. "It is very powerful. We don't shy away from showing reality."
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Second prize -- spot news single:
Syrian opposition fighters interrogate captured government informants on July 31, 2012, in Aleppo, Syria, in a photograph by Emin Ozmen. The informants were declared guilty and tortured throughout the night, according to Ozmen.
Second prize -- spot news stories:
A Free Syrian Army fighter during clashes against government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on October 10, 2012.
First prize -- general news single:
A woman identified as Aida cries while recovering from injuries she received when the Syrian army shelled her house on March 10, 2012, in Idlib. Her husband and two children were fatally wounded during the shelling, photographer Rodrigo Abd said.
Third prize -- general news stories:
Pine trees uprooted during the 2011 tsunami lie on the beach in Rikuzentakata, Japan, on March 7, 2012.
First prize sports -- sports action single: An Indonesian jockey, his feet in a harness strapped to bulls and clutching their tails, appears joyous at the end of a dangerous run across rice fields as part of the Pacu Jawi bull race on February 12, 2012, in West Sumatra. The bull race is a popular competition between villages at the end of harvest season.
Second prize sports -- sports action stories: Egypt's Alaaeldin Abouelkassem, top, moves against Peter Joppich of Germany during their men's fencing match on July 31, 2012, during the London Olympics.
First prize sports -- sports features stories: Armed guards protect a women's basketball team during play on February 21, 2012, in Mogadishu, Somalia. Young women risk their lives to play basketball in the war-torn country.
First prize -- contemporary issues single: A woman stops to read a book during her shift picking up trash at a dump near slums in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 3, 2012.
First prize -- contemporary issues stories:
Phan Thi Thuy Vy and Dang Thi Bich Bay watch TV after studying on June 22, 2012, in Da Nang, Vietnam. The couple have been together for a year, according to photographer Maika Elan, in a country that's been hostile to same-sex relationships in the past.
First prize -- daily life stories:
Mirella, 71, takes care of her husband of 43 years, Luigi, who has Alzheimer's disease, in Rome.
Third prize people -- observed portraits single: Kayla with a lookalike doll in front of a portrait of her ancestors in Boston.
Third prize people -- observed portraits stories: After living with his father for 10 years and staying in a youth shelter, Martin, 18, went to live again with his mother in Tilburg, the Netherlands, two years ago. He appears in a February 15, 2011, portrait.
Second prize people -- staged portraits single: Ai Weiwei, the well-known artist and critic of the Chinese government, appears in a February 6, 2012, portrait in Beijing.
First prize people -- staged portraits stories: Makone Soumaoro, 30, who has a goiter, is photographed in Conakry, Guinea, on October 17, 2012. "I don't have pain, but I am worried that my neck swells that much," she told photographer Stephan Vanfleteren. "I hope it it is not a tumor because I am a housewife and my man and three children need me."
First prize -- nature single: Australia's endangered Southern Cassowary eats fruit from a Blue Quandong tree on November 16, 2012.
First prize -- nature stories: Emperor penguins swim in Antarctica's Ross Sea on November 18, 2011.
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