Photograph of gay couple in St Petersburg wins World Press Photo 2014

A photograph of two Russian gay men embracing has won the 2014 World Press Photo of the Year award, it was announced today. Mads Nissen’s image is part of a photo essay on the repercussions of Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law passed in 2013. The photograph was described by the chair of this year’s jury Michele McNally, the director of photography and an assistant at The New York Times, as subtle and “very tender”.

This marks the second year in a row that an image from the contemporary issues category has won the award. Last year, John Stanmeyer won the award with his photo of migrants in Djibouti trying to find faint mobile phone signal.

Nissan is a staff photographer for the Danish newspaper Politiken.