The International Jury of the 46th Annual World Press Photo Contest selected the photograph to the left, shot by Polaris Images photographer, Eric Grigorian, for this year's top honor.

Surrounded by soldiers and villagers digging graves for victims of that morning's earthquake, a young boy clings on to his dead father's pants as he squats by the freshly dug grave where his father is about to be burried.

That morning a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Ghazvin Province of Iran 300 miles from the capital Tehran. Dozens of villages were completely destroyed killing hundreds and devastating the lives of thousands of Iranians. This series of photos are from the village of Changooreh the day of the earthquake and also the day after. Approximately one hundred villagers died in this one village.

World Press Picture of the Year 2002 by Eric Grigorian