Photojournalism 1st place winner

A young girl in Kandahar, Afghanistan, stands next to a queue of women waiting to vote in the country's October 2018 parliamentary elections. Many of the women said they were voting for someone who would improve education for their children, including their female children. War-ravaged Afghanistan is one of the worst places in the world to be a girl or woman, according to international assessments. Despite wearing traditional attire, the women in the photograph could be considered progressive as they came out to vote in one of the country's most conservative provinces.

Phillip Walter Wellman is an American journalist currently living and working in Afghanistan.