American photographer John Stanmeyer has won this year’s World Press Photo award for his picture of a group of African migrants against the night sky of Djibouti.

The men are holding their mobile phones aloft, trying to get a signal from neighbouring country Somalia so they can phone their families.

In total, 53 photographers from 25 nationalities won prizes in nine categories in the Amsterdam-based national competition. The winners were chosen from 98,671 photos sent in by 5,754 photographers from around the world.

Among them was Dutch photographer Carla Kogelman, who won first prize in the category portraits of people in their surroundings. Her photo of two sisters hugging came from a series she took of children in the Austrian village of Merkenbrechts.

An exhibition of the winning photos opens in the Amsterdam Nieuwe Kerk on April 18.