The best Swiss photos of the year

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Winner - News category: Early Wednesday morning, May 27th 2015, several top FIFA officials are arrested by Swiss authorities, outside the five-star hotel "Baur-au-Lac" in Zurich. Photo by Pascal Mora. Pascal Mora

Second - News: US Secretary of State John Kerry, centre, walks as he takes a lunch break after a bilateral meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (not pictured) for a new round of Nuclear Iran Talks, in Montreux, Switzerland. Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015. Photo by Jean-Christoph Bott/Keystone Keystone

Third - News: A border guard searches an asylum seeker at the railway station in the Swiss town of Chiasso on the Italian border. Photo by Pablo Gianinazzi/Ti-Press. Pablo Gianuzzi/Ti-Press

Winner - Daily Life: Depending on the perspective, an ensemble of concrete and steel avalanche barriers erected above the southeastern village of St Antönien is a work of art. The structures reach a height of four metres. Photos by Kaspar Thalmann. Kaspar Thalmann

Second - Daily Life: Young men dressed to the nines at the opera ball in Zurich last year. Photo by Urs Jaudas. Urs Jaudas

Third - Daily Life: A nun from the Casa Santa Brigitta in canton Ticino prepares to leave her cell. The Casa is a hotel founded in 1924 and run entirely by nuns from the Brigittine Order. Photo by Pablo Gianinazzi. Pablo Gianuzzi/Ti-Press

Winner - Swiss stories: Eritrean Orthodox religious service which took place in a Protestant church in the town of Buchs. Photo by Daniel Rihs/13Photo. Daniel Rihs/13 Photo

Second - Swiss stories: Conference on Disarmament. Year 34, 2013 Session 1, Plenary meeting 1277. Presidency of India. Jon Yong Ryong, First Secretary of North Korea's mission in Geneva in discussion with Chinese diplomats, following the end of the meeting in which North Korea's recent nuclear test was much criticised, and in which he stated: As the saying goes, a new-born puppy knows no fear of a tiger. South Korea's erratic behaviour would only herald its final destruction. Photo by Mark Henley/Panos Pictures. Mark Henley/Panos Pictures

Third - Swiss stories: Crow hunting. The photographer accompanied three crow hunters and their falcons and hawks. The birds of prey are released from the car when crows come into sight. They're lured back to their masters with food or a dead crow. Photo by Annick Ramp. Annick Ramp

Winner - People: Portrait of Claire Parkes-Bärfuss. Born into a working class family in 1913 and raised in a home for children, she worked as a household servant before going to London. She married an Englishman and the two of them emigrated to New Zealand before returning to her Swiss rural village at the age of 99. Photo by Mara Truog. Mara Truog

Second - People: Swiss television presenter Darius Rochebin (left) with Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam. Thiam appeared on Swiss television two days after taking over the bank's reigns in July 2015. Photo by Laurent Bleuze/RTS. Laurent Bleuze/RTS

Third - People: candidate for election to the Swiss cabinet, Thomas Aeschi, from the conservative right Swiss People's Party. Aeschi would lose to party colleague, Guy Parmelin. Photo by Marco Zanoni. Marco Zanoni/Lunax

Winner - Sports: An unidentified rider's fall into the straw at the Shuttlcock Corner during a practice on the skeleton track of the Cresta Run in the resort of St. Moritz. Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters. Arnd Wiegmann

Second - Sports: Two athletes compete in the fog during the Highline Extreme event at Moleson in the Alps in western Switzerland. Fifty of the European best slackliners competed in the competition on six different lines ranging in height from 45 to 495 metres. Photo by Fabrice Coffrini. Fabrice Coffrini

Third - Sports: An artistic look at racers during the Lauberhorn downhill. Photos by Christoph Ruckstuhl. Christoph Ruckstuhl

Winner - World: Zhenya (Evgeny) and Yulia kiss in front of their datcha during their wedding with their friends. Ukraine. Photo by Niels Ackermann/lundi13 Niels Ackermann/lundi13

Winner - World: Radioactive field near Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine. Photo by Niels Ackermann/lundi13. Niels Ackermann/lundi13

Second - World: Bird's eye view capturing a moment inside the main railway station in Salzburg, Austria. Photo by Joseph Kakshouri. Joseph Kakshouri

Second - World: Salzburg main railway station. Photo by Joseph Kakshouri. Joseph Khakshouri

Third - World: the Roma. Their 'unending search for paradise', 2009-2015. Photo by Yves Leresche. Yves Leresche

Third - World: The Roma. Their 'unending search for paradise', 2009-2015. Photo by Yves Leresche. Yves Leresche

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The shot of hotel staff holding up a sheet to protect the identity of a FIFA official being led away from a Swiss hotel has won the Swiss Press Photo for the best news image.

The picture taken during the raid of Zurich’s Baur au Lac hotel last May is the opposite of what one expects from photojournalism: someone or something covered up. Yet this image was taken at the beginning of what has become a series of revelations of cover ups and corruption hanging over football’s governing body.

Each year, winners are announced in several categories; news, people, Swiss stories, daily life, world, sports.

Among the 2016 winners is Daniel Rihs, whose images of an Eritrean Orthodox Christian ceremony in a Protestant church were published as a photo gallery by swissinfo.ch.

The main winner – the Swiss Press Photographer of the Year – will be chosen at the Swiss Press Award ceremony in Bern on April 27.

(All photos and text: Swiss Press Photo 2016)