World Press Photo Contest Open for Entries

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t is 1955 and some members of the Dutch photojournalists’ union (Nederlandse Vereniging van Fotojournalisten, NVF) decided to turn the Zilveren Camera – a national competition – into an international one. Since then there has been an annual contest almost every year.
The idea of putting together all winning pictures in an exhibition is a winning concept that has been proving its efficiency for years: now World Press Photo is the world’s most prestigious contest of photojournalism and the world’s widest-ranging annual photo exhibition.

2018 contest will open on the 1st of December, the categories are: contemporary issues (pictures documenting cultural, political or social issues affecting individuals or societies), environment (photographs documenting human impact, positive or negative, on the environment), general news (images reporting on news topics and their aftermaths), long-term projects (proposals on a single theme that has been shot over at least three different years), nature (representations showing flora, fauna and landscapes in their natural state), people (pictures of individuals or groups either in observed or posed portraits), sports and spot news (capturing individual or team sports or witnessing news moments).

© Amber Bracken: Two nations – Veterans carry an American and a Mohawk Warrior Society flag through the storm. The Mohawk flag came to prominence during the 1990 Canadian Oka Crisis, when the military confronted indigenous people in a major armed conflict for the first time in modern history. Camp is dedicated to stopping the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) “in a good way” but there is some fear history will repeat itself, again.

The jury is composed by specialists coming from every corners of the world and with very different backgrounds, allowing the contest to be as cosmopolite as it should be: the contest can count on Emin Özmen photographer at Magnum Photos from Turkey, Madi Ju head of content VICE China, Nancy Donaldson Gauss executive director for video The New York Times and many others.

The 61st annual World Press Photo Contest will feature a new category: environment.
[quote_box name=””]”Human impact on the environment is one of the most important issues of our time. For the upcoming contest, we have added the category Environment. This allows us to reward and support imagery reporting on this topic, including stories that report on solutions. We have also decided to discontinue the Daily Life category. Quality work of this important perspective of life can be seen in, and has been entered into, the Long-Term Projects category since its introduction three years ago. We believe these changes create a more comprehensive visual perception of today’s society.”
Micha Bruinvels (World Press Photo Foundation contests director)[/quote_box]

© Lalo de Almeida – AREIAS, PARAIBA STATE, BRAZIL. 19/10/2016. Marcela, 2 years-old, observes her twin sisters Heloá (right) and Heloisa (left), seven months old, both with microcephaly caused by the Zika virus, in her mother’s lap at the family’s home in the rural area of Areias. The state of Paraíba, located in the Northeast region of Brazil, has one of the highest rates of microcephaly caused by the Zika virus in the country.

Not only this year edition will support freedom of expression, speech and press but it will focus on the environmental aspect, being this an important issue that finally got the attention it deserves – as other contests and photographic exhibitions have proven -.

For more infos or to take part to the contest click here.