A photo of an intimate moment between two gay Russian men has been awarded the World Press Photo of the Year 2014.

 
 
Danish photographer, Mads Nissen, captured the incredibly intimate and beautiful moment between Alex (25) and Jon(21) as a part of a project called Homophobia In Russia. The project was aimed at highlighting the plight of LGBT Russian’s since the passing of the controversial “gay propaganda” law in 2013.

World Press Photo jury member Alessia Glaviano said in a statement, “The photo has a message about love being an answer in the context of all that is going on in the world. It is about love as a global issue, in a way that transcends homosexuality. It sends out a strong message to the world, not just about homosexuality, but about equality, about gender, about being black or white, about all of the issues related to minorities.”

Another jury member Donald Weber added, “The winning image fosters debate not only within the photo community, about who we are and where we’re going and what we’re trying to say, but also in the larger community. The images are seen and discussed by tens of thousands of people.”

Nissen, who is a staff photographer with leading Danish newspaper Politiken, won the top prize of €10,000 for his image.

Over 97,000 images were submitted by almost 6,000 press photographers, photojournalists, and documentary photographers from 131 countries.