Canon Australia will present an exhibition of the winners of the most prestigious international contest in professional press photography, World Press Photo, in Australia in May.

 

March 1, 2006: Canon Australia will present an exhibition of the winners of the most prestigious international contest in professional press photography, World Press Photo, in Australia in May.

The exhibition will include eye-catching – and at times confronting – images from all over the world and showcase the very best of photojournalism from the past year. It will also bring to public attention images that have been censored by the media because of the harsh realities they convey. This year 4,448 professional photographers from 122 countries entered 83,044 images.

The winning image for World Press Photo of the Year 2005 shows the emaciated fingers of a one-year-old child pressed against the lips of his mother at an emergency feeding clinic in Niger. A devastating swarm of locusts and the worst drought in decades left millions of people short of food in the African state. The picture was taken in north-western Niger by Canadian photographer Finbarr O’Reilly of Reuters, who will receive a cash prize of 10,000 euro (A$16,000) plus an EOS-1D Mark II N camera.

Australian photographers always feature prominently in the line up of winners and this year is no exception. The Australian winners for 2005 include:
Mark and Jenny Evans, 1st prize, Sports Feature Stories,
Ryan Pierse, Getty Images, 2nd prize, Sport Action Singles,
Adam Pretty, Getty Images, 3rd prize, Sport Action Stories,
Palani Mohan, Getty Images, 2nd prize, Nature Stories.
The World Press Photo Exhibition will go on display at the State Library of NSW, from 4 May to 28 May 2006. Entry is free and the display will be open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5pm and on weekends and selected public holidays from 11am-5pm. For general inquiries phone (02) 9273 1414.