World Press Photo wows us with the impressive nominated images for the 2020 contest while we wait for the winner announcement in April.
If the World Press Photo Contest is among your sources of photography inspiration, you’ll be impressed as always with the poignant nominated images for this year’s run. Today, the World Press Photo Foundation introduced the 44 nominees for the eight categories of the competition, as well as those for World Press Photo of the Year and World Press Photo Story of the Year awards.
Now on its 63rd run, the World Press Photo Contest garnered 73,996 photos submitted by 4,283 photographers from 125 countries. The 44 nominees, meanwhile, hail from 24 countries and were selected by an independent jury composed of 17 photography professionals. Out of the best photos and stories that mattered in 2019, the jury highlighted protest and the role of youth in activating change as the recurrent theme from the entries. Environmental stories also were also prominent in the submissions, and were seen in Contemporary Issues, Nature, and Spot News apart from the Environment category.
Introduced in 2019, the World Press Story of the Year is an award with the same level of recognition as the World Press Photo of the Year. It honors the photographer who was able to present a story that captures or represents an event or issue of great journalistic significance. The three nominees for this award are Nicolas Asfouri (Denmark, Agence France-Presse) for Hong Kong Unrest, Mulugeta Ayene (Ethiopia, Associated Press) for Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 Crash Site, and Romain Laurendeau (France) for Kho, the Genesis of a Revolt.
World Press Photo of the Year also brings recognition to the photographer whose work was able to reflect an event or issue of great journalistic importance, with an emphasis on a single photo. For its latest run, the competition jury picked six nominees:
Relative Mourns Flight ET 302 Crash Victim
Mulugeta Ayene, Ethiopia, Associated Press
Clash with the Police During Anti-Government Demonstration
Farouk Batiche, Algeria, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Straight Voice
Yasuyoshi Chiba, Japan, Agence France-Presse
Awakening
Tomasz Kaczor, Poland, for Gazeta Wyborcza
Injured Kurdish Fighter Receives Hospital Visit
Ivor Prickett, Ireland, for The New York Times
Nothing Personal – The Back Office of War
Nikita Teryoshin, Russia
Lastly, three single images and three stories in each of the following categories were also selected: Contemporary Issues, Environment, General News, Long-Term Projects, Nature, Portraits, Sports, and Spot News.
Kho, the Genesis of a Revolt © Romain Laurendeau, France 
Exodus © Nicolò Filippo Rosso, Italy 
Rise from the Ashes © Wally Skalij, United States, Los Angeles Times 
ISIS and its Aftermath in Syria © Ivor Prickett, Ireland, for The New York Times 
Battling the Marsh Fire © Noah Berger, United States, for Associated Press 
Australia’s Bushfire Crisis © Matthew Abbott, Australia, Panos Pictures, for The New York Times 
The Carbon Threat © Katie Orlinsky, United States, for National Geographic 
The Tigers Next Door © Steve Winter, United States, for National Geographic 
Fading Flamingos © Maximilian Mann, Germany, DOCKS Collective 
Japan’s Veteran Rugby Players © Kim Kyung-Hoon, South Korea, Reuters 
Hafız: Guardians of the Qur’an © Sabiha Çimen, Turkey 
Ixil Genocide © Daniele Volpe, Italy 
Between Right and Shame © Tatsiana Tkachova, Belarus
The winners of the 2020 World Press Photo Contest will be announced at the awards show set for April 16th in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The World Press Photo of the Year and World Press Photo Story of the Year winners will receive a cash price of 10,000 Euros. The prize-winning photos will also be part of a year-long exhibition that will run in 120 cities and 50 countries and premiere at De Nieuwe Kirk in Amsterdam on April 18th.
Visit the World Press Photo Foundation website to find out more about the prestigious photography competition and see the complete selection of nominees.