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Have a look at this selection of Free Press photographers' best photos of 2025.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/12/2025 (241 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Have a look at this selection of Free Press photographers’ best photos of 2025.
William and his sister Brooklyn dash through the Christmas lights display at The Leaf in November. (John Woods / Free Press)Members of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet performs T’el: The Wild Man of the Woods as part of the company’s Ballet in the Park summer series. (Mike Sudoma / Free Press)Veterinarian technologist Elizabeth Greber delivers a vaccine at a free clinic for dogs and cats in September. The clinic was held to mark World Rabies Day. (John Woods / Free Press)Blue Bombers drumline member Jaremy Ediger entertains the home crowd during a clash against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in October. (Brook Jones / Free Press)Valour FC’s goaltender Emil Gazdov misses the penalty shot from Pacific FC’s Alejandro Diaz during Canadian Premier League action in Winnipeg, in August. (John Woods / Free Press)Water drips off of a gomphrena flower in the boulevard plantings at Roblin and Moray in August. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)Cross Lake’s Bernice Moore, in a blue plaid shirt, with family members at the Victoria Inn. They were among the thousands of northern Manitoba residents forced to evacuate their coummunities this summer due to wildfires. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)Corley McPherson holds photos of her great-aunt Jennifer Glenna Johnston (left), and aunt Jennifer McPherson, both of whom were murdered, during a procession at the release of the Red Dress Alert report in November. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)Nahanni Fontaine, the minister responsible for accesibility, speaks to the media (with an ASL translator in the background) after announcing Manitoba Accessibility Fund recipients in July. This came one month after Fontaine made controversial comments that denigrated the prescence of an ASL interpreter at a news event. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)A crew begins cutting down trees in the Lemay forest in April as a developer attempted to push forward on an assisted living facility. The community pushback resulted in a political storm, putting an end to the project. The provincial government later announced the forest would be turned into a provincial park. (Mike Deal / Free Press)Pedestrians celebrate the opening of Portage and Main intersection in late June. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)A massive flag is installed at the Manitoba legislature in March in advance of Premier Wab Kinew outlining the province’s response to the U.S. tariffs. (John Woods / Free Press)Liberal party leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland meets supporters in Winnipeg on Jan. 21, 2025. (John Woods / Free Press)Second World War veteran Len Van Roon Senior, 103, refused to marry his girlfriend Verna before he was deployed for fear of leaving her a widow should he die in combat. Throughout his four years in the army, Van Roon wrote 1,100 love letters to her. The couple was married for 64 years before Verna died in 2011, aged 90. (Mike Deal / Free Press)May Hampel, 88, encourages her ball as she and other members of the Kelvin Ladies Bowling League bowl at Mosienko Lanes on Feb. 17, 2025. The league has been operating since the 1940s and some of the women have been bowling in the league for 50 years (John Woods / Free Press)David Russell produces elaborate creations with nature, insect, and skull motifs, via sculpting, scanning, molding and printing. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press )Terry Brown displays her rings. Brown is the co-founder and CEO of Okimaw Community & HR Solutions. The company provides skills-based training, advisory services and secretariat support to First Nations.(Mike Deal / Free Press)James Brown, who has been posting daily shots of himself sporting different pairs of sunglasses since January first, with some of the pairs in his collection on April 28, 2025.(Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)A bird of prey carries a large stick to the nest it is building in the lights that stand next to the field at Winnipeg Soccer Federation South in May 2025. (Mike Deal / Free Press)Cabins destroyed by wildfire on Wendigo Road near Lac du Bonnet in May 2025. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)People participate in the June 2025 Pride Parade in downtown Winnipeg. (John Woods / Free Press)A helicopter view of the wildfires in northern Manitoba in June 2025. (Mike Deal / Free Press)Allison Russell on the main stage at Folk Fest on July 10, 2025. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)Meeko McDonald works on a painting at El'Dad Ranch near Steinbach. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)Nancy Clearwater kisses the head of the bronze turtle at the memorial unveiling ceremony in Carman in September. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)Wyatt Walkin (age 5, left) and Cohen Walkin (age 3) check out the ropes set up for superheroes to rappel down the HSC ChildrenÕs Hospital for the fourth annual fundraiser on Oct. 3, 2025.(Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)Colin Penner leaves one of the original small barns on the farm his family has had for three generations.(Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)Four-year-old Jacob Cramer makes his way up and around a giant web, which is part of a play structure at T. R> Hodgson Park on Carpathia St. while hanging out at the park with his mom in late October. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)Winnipeg Blue Bombers players clean out their lockers in the dressing room at the stadium in November. (John Woods / Free Press)A portrait of actor Rodrigo Beilfuss (Mike Deal / Free Press)David Walker, an electrician with Knight Electric, installs new lights in the sleigh of the float used by Santa in Winnipeg's Santa Claus Parade.
(Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)Victoria Vasyk helps set up 750 pairs of childrenÕs shoes, symbolizing the lives of 750 Ukrainian children lost to the war, for a vigil at the Manitoba Legislative Building on Nov. 20, 2025. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)A portrait of Rodney Francisco, co-owner of the Collab Shop in the Exchange District. (John Woods / Free Press)Sea Bears guard Jalen Harris (No. 20) shoots the basketball while contacting Surge forward Gabe Osabuohien (No. 22) during a game at Canada Life Centre in July. (Brook Jones / Free Press)Cyclists take part in Bike Week's flagship event, Bike To Work Day, by stopping at the Urban Systems & Laura Secord School pit stop on Wolseley Avenue in June. (Mike Deal / Free Press)Mike (no last name given), a frequent attendee at the House of the Risen Son Church, showcases a tattoo representing finding his faith. (Mike Sudoma / Free Press)Roller skater Dave Rider enjoys some free styling on his skates at Sargent Park Skate Park in March. (Mike Sudoma / Free Press)
Manitoba Book Awards releases short listThe Manitoba Book Awards has unveiled the short lists for the literary prizes to be presented this year.
For the 2026 awards, jurors evaluated 42 submissions in both English and French, and will present six prizes in total for best first book as well as best fiction, non-fiction and poetry, plus the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award and a prize for French literature.
Three books received multiple nominations — Catherine Hunter’s short-story collection Seeing You Home, Zilla Jones’ debut novel The World So Wide and R.Y. Abdulrehman’s first novel Jinn in the Family each received two nods.
In 2024, a feasibility study commissioned by organizers deemed the Manitoba Book Awards unsustainable, resulting in a two-year hiatus. A board of arts workers and writers now administers the prizes; after this year’s scaled-down return, a larger rollout is planned for 2027.
Dennis Lafreniere and his wife didn’t expect to celebrate 27 years of marriage Thursday in a Selkirk hotel room while reeling from a recent house fire.
The couple and their two daughters lost their home last Sunday in a raging fire that left nothing behind, but overwhelming support from multiple communities has kept them afloat.
“It’s devastating when you don’t have any clothes, any medication, all of that stuff, and it’s just so overwhelming the next morning. It’s just nasty,” Lafreniere said.
Investigators suspect the fire was caused by a fridge, freezer and battery charger that were all plugged into the same electrical line that got overheated. The house, located on Highway 59 between Selkirk and Libau, is a farmhouse built in 1943, and investigators think worn-out electrical lines also contributed to the fire, said Lafreniere.
The family of a senior who left his Manitoba Housing apartment after two years of bedbug infestations is accusing the provincial body of being ineffectual and irresponsible in its treatment of the persistent pests.
The senior had lived at the Columbus Courts building at 253 Edgeland Blvd., since 2011, but when he began getting severe skin rashes all over his body about two years ago, his son began to worry.
They found out the 14-storey building was being sprayed for bedbugs after an infestation had impacted several units. After multiple rounds of pesticide treatments, the problem has not subsided, the son told the Free Press.
“They come in, they spray pesticides and then they leave. And it’s been completely ineffectual,” he said. “My dad keeps seeing the bedbugs even the day after the treatments and continuously, they’ve just gotten worse and worse.”
The University of Winnipeg Collegiate is requiring new students to complete artificial intelligence 101 lessons and offering a first-of-its-kind elective for those who want to perfect their chatbot prompts.
The private high school is piloting two projects this year in a bid to improve digital literacy on the downtown campus.
Every Grade 9 and 10 student will have to pass an approximately two-hour long online course about “AI essentials.”
Dean Osaed Khan likened the mandatory e-learning sessions to requiring students to complete a safety course before they can participate in a science lab.
You can’t fix stupid. And you can’t sign a contract — or a trade deal — with a proven liar, cheat and blackmailer. And sometimes, you end up having to fight.
