Photograph of Bibi Aisha, an 18-year-old woman whose ears and nose were sliced off on punishment Jodi Bieber for Time magazine won the best photo prize for 2010

Shocking portrait of an Afghan woman whose ears and nose were sliced off by her husband as punishment for leaving him, taken by Jodi Bieber for Time magazine, won the top World Press Photo prize on Friday.

Bibi Aisha, an 18-year-old woman from Oruzgan province in Afghanistan, left her husband complaining of domestic violence. A Taliban commander ordered that she face justice and her husband cut off her nose and ears. She now lives in the United States where she had reconstructive surgery. Aisha posed for the Time cover photo because she wanted readers to see the potential consequences of a Taliban resurgence, the magazine said when it was published.

"It's an incredibly strong image. It sends out an enormously powerful message to the world, about the 50 percent of the population that are women, so many of whom still live in miserable conditions, suffering violence. It is strong because the woman looks so dignified, iconic," said Ruth Eichhorn, one of the judges, in a statement. When photographing Aisha in an Afghan women's shelter, "I really wanted to capture the inner beauty," Bieber told World Press Photo when contacted by phone after the jury's decision, according to a press statement

Bibi aisha after surgery

Mike Hutchings of Reuters won first prize in the Sports Singles category for his photograph from the World Cup semi-final in Cape Town, South Africa, showing the Netherlands' Demy de Zeeuw being kicked in the face by Uruguay's Martin Caceres.

best photo on sport category

Omar Feisal of Reuters won first prize in the Daily Life Singles category for his photograph of a man carrying a shark through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia.

best prize in daily life

For the awards, an international team of judges selected winners in ten subject areas, including spot and general news, sports, nature, and portraits, for which Bieber's image also took first prize. In each subject area, the judges awarded first, second, and third prizes for both individual photos and photo-essays. This year a "special mention" was given to a series of 12 photos taken by the Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days and rescued in October.

A record 108,059 pictures were submitted for this year's contest by 5,847 photographers representing 125 nationalities.