EXHIBITION OF TOP INTERNATIONAL NEWS PHOTOGRAPHS TO OPEN AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS ON 5 MARCH

Note to Correspondents

EXHIBITION OF TOP INTERNATIONAL NEWS PHOTOGRAPHS TO OPEN

AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS ON 5 MARCH

Dozens of news photographs that chronicle crises, conflicts, and the human condition around the globe will be on display in the Visitors’ Lobby at United Nations Headquarters from 5 March until 4 April in an exhibition sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands and the Department of Public Information.

The exhibit will be opened on Friday, 5 March at 6 p.m. by Mrs. Nane Annan, Ambassador Dirk Jan van den Berg, Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the United Nations, Peter Bakker, Board Member of the World Press Photo Foundation, and Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.

In 2003, the forty-sixth annual World Press Photo Contest, the premier international competition in press photography, received a record number of entries –- 53,597 images by 3,913 professional photographers from 118 countries.  An international jury gave prizes in 9 theme categories to 55 photographers representing 21 nations:  Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, CzechRepublic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, Poland, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Among the photos featured in the exhibition is an image which the jury selected as “World Press Photo of the Year” -- a black and white picture by the Armenian-American photographer Eric Grigorian, represented by Polaris Images.  The picture was taken on 23 June 2002, after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Qazvin province of north-west Iran, killing more than 500 people in some 12 villages.  In the photograph, surrounded by soldiers and villagers digging graves for victims of that morning’s earthquake, a young boy clings on to his dead father’s clothing by the grave where his father is about to be buried.

World Press Photo is an independent, non-profit organization, founded in the Netherlands in 1955.  Its main aim is to support and promote internationally the work of professional press photographers.  Over the years, World Press Photo has evolved into an independent platform for photojournalism and the free exchange of information.  The organization operates under the patronage of H.R.H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.

The 2003 jury was chaired by Shahidul Alam (Bangladesh), photographer and Director of the Drik Picture Library.  The members of the jury included:  Pierre Fernandez (France), Photo Editor-in-Chief, Agence France-Presse; Eva Fischer (Germany), Picture Editor, Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin; Sarah Harbutt (United States), Director of Photography, Newsweek; Mitsuaki Iwago (Japan), Photographer; Margot Klingsporn (Germany), Director, Focus Photo und Presseagentur; Herbert Mabuza, (South Africa), Picture Editor, The Sunday Times; Pablo Ortiz Monasterio (Mexico), Photographer and Picture Editor, Letras Libres; Paolo Pellegrin (Italy), Photographer, Magnum Photos; Brechtje Rood (Netherlands), Picture Editor, Trouw; Maggie Steber (United States), Director of Photography, The Miami Herald; Andrew Wong (China), Chief Photographer, Greater China, Reuters; Alexander Zemlianichenko (Russia), Chief Photographer, Moscow Bureau, The Associated Press; and the jury’s Secretary, Adriaan Monshouwer (Netherlands), Manager, Design and Communication, Wolters-Noordhoff.

For further information, contact tel.: 212-963-TOUR or 212-963-4475.  Additional information is also available at www.worldpressphoto.nl, e-mail: office@worldpressphoto.nl, tel.:+31 (20) 676 6096.  A selection of prize-winning images is available for publication on the international wire services of AP, AFP, EPA and Reuters.  World Press Photo is sponsored worldwide by Canon, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and TPG.

* *** *