Libyan protesters, Moscow’s suburbs and street fights won Russian photographers awards at World Press Photo, the world’s most prestigious contest for photojournalists.

Yury Kozyrev and his photograph of protesters in Libya fighting against dictator Muammar Gaddafi and his regime won first prize in the Spot News category. The photo was taken on March 11, 2011, in Ras Lanuf, Libya. Kozyrev had already claimed two WPP awards in 2002 and 2009.

Russia’s Aleksandr Taran won first prize for his amateur streetfighting tournament Strelka series in the Sport category. His pictures show brutal streetfights in a sand ring with no time limit, breaks or rounds. Set in the back lot of the abandoned Soviet factory Krasnoye Znamya, fights only stop with a knockout or a fighter’s surrender.

Another photographer from Russia, Aleksandr Gronsky, won third prize in the Daily Life section for his Pastoral series. This photo-report shows the juxtaposition of scenery and action, as Muscovites visit wasteland areas in the city’s suburbs for recreation.

The contest’s first prize went to Spaniard Samuel Aranda for his photograph depicting a woman holding a wounded relative in her arms inside a mosque being used as a field hospital by demonstrators against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh during clashes in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in October 2011.

The 55th year of the competition attracted entries from more than 5000 photographers from 124 countries.