Six Australian photographers have taken out major prizes at the World Press Photo awards for 2003.

 

Six Australian photographers have taken out major prizes at the World Press Photo awards for 2003.

The competition is run by World Press Photo, an independent non-profit organisation, operating under the patronage of Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and sponsored worldwide by Canon. The World Press Photo of the Year 2003 was awarded to Jean-Marc Bouju of The Associated Press for his image of a hooded Iraqi man comforting his son in a POW centre in Najaf, Iraq .

The Australian winners this year included Tim Clayton of the Sydney Morning Herald, who scored both a first prize in the Sports Action (Single) category, for his photo of Yannick Bru in a scrum at the Rugby World Cup 2003, as well as second prize in the Arts and Entertainment (Single) category for his look at life in the Australian Ballet School. In the People In The News (Story) category, Australian Philip Blenkinsop was awarded first prize for his portrait of Hmong guerrillas in Laos, for Agence Vu/Time Asia. In the Sports Action (Story) category, second prize went to Adam Pretty for his Getty Images portfolio, while the third prize was claimed by Craig Golding for his work for the Sydney Morning Herald. Sandy Nicholson scooped third prize in the Daily Life (Story) for a portrait of a man wrapped head to foot in bandages for Redux Pictures. Tanya Lake’s swirling image representing Sydney ‘s waterways took out third prize in the Nature (Story) category.

The total number of 63,093 images was a record number of entries. The prize-winning pictures selected by the international jury will appear in the yearbook and will be exhibited under the auspices of the foundation. Canon Australia will bring the exhibition of World Press Photo award winners to The State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, from June 25 to July 25, 2004.