The powerful winning images from this year's World Press Photo Awards

Founded in 1955 by a group of Dutch photographers, the World Press Photo contest has grown into one of the world's most prestigious photography competitions.

This year, the competition received 73,044 images taken by 4,548 photographers from 125 different countries.

Some of the most striking news moments frozen in time include riots against President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, the Las Vegas mass shooting, and the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.

Here are 45 of the most powerful, award-winning images of 2017: