World Press Photo
The annual World Press Photo Contest is the most prestigious and largest press photography contest worldwide. Each year the competition honours those photojournalists who create and capture extraordinary, insightful and beautiful images.
World Press Photo is most well known for organising the World Press Photo Contest. Since its inception in 1955, some of the images that have been on display at the event have become iconic – a naked girl running after a napalm attack in Vietnam; a Buddhist monk who has set himself alight; a sole demonstrator standing in front of tanks on Tiananmen Square. Others have set trends and established styles of press photography that can be seen re-emerging in years to come.
In addition to the contest, the prize-winning photographs are assembled into the world’s widest ranging exhibition that is visited by over two million people in some 45 countries worldwide. A yearbook presenting all prize-winning entries is also published annually in six languages.
While the competition is at the core of the non-profit organisation’s activities, World Press Photo is also deeply concerned with stimulating developments in photojournalism and encouraging transfer of knowledge. With this in mind, they organise the annual Joop Swart Masterclass as well as seminars, workshops and other educational projects all over the world.
The 2009 exhibition is currently still on tour, while the 2010 exhibition will kick off in Amsterdam in April. For more information on the awards and the organisation, go to www.worldpressphoto.org.
