World Press Photo 2018

World Press Photo 2018

World Press Photo Of The Year is the most prestigious competition in the world of photojournalism.

As the name suggests, this is an annual event, which is organized since 1955 by Dutch foundation World Press Photo. The results are announced in February. The author of the winning photo receives a 10,000€ prize. However, the criteria are not only connected with the esthetic aspects of the photograph.  It has to represent an issue or single event of a great importance, from the journalistic point of view.

Apart from The Best Picture, the jury awards photographers in eight different categories:  general news, spot news, sports, contemporary issues, daily life, portraits, nature and long-term projects.

The photos are related to contemporary issues like racism, wars, ecological crises and unique events or moments. Obviously, there are also photos presenting positive situations like an extraordinary entertainment popular in more “exotic” for us countries.

The citizens of Poznań had a great opportunity to see the exhibition containing all of the rewarded photos from 2018 edition in CK Zamek. The exhibition was available from 28^th April to 20^th May 2018. For the most important photo contest of the year, 4548 photographers from 125 countries signed up with 73 thousand of pictures. The works were presented anonymously in front of jury with Magdalena Herrera as the head of the jury.

This year’s winner is Ronaldo Schemidt with a photo intitled “Venezuela Crisis”.

In my opinion it was a very touching exhibition, because it presented current issues dominating our world.  Terrorism, endangered species, racism, ethnical and religious conflicts, injustice, politics and the diversity of our world. After seeing it I had just one conclusion in my head “we’re not even aware what is going on but only we can change it”.

If you’re ready to see and to know more, go to www.worldpressphoto.org.  You can find there all of the rewarded photos with the descriptions, which are sometimes comforting, but mostly just overwhelming.