Note to Correspondents

EXHIBIT OF BEST PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS from 2008 OPENS AT UN HEADQUARTERS on 8 july

 

An exhibition of the best press photographs of 2008 will open in the Main Gallery of the Visitors Lobby at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, 8 July 2009.  This travelling exhibition of winning images selected at the fifty-second annual World Press Photo Contest in Amsterdam this year will remain on display through 29 July.

Among the winning images featured in the exhibition is the World Press Photo of the Year 2008, a black and white image by American photographer Anthony Suau showing an armed officer of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department moving through a home in Cleveland, Ohio, following eviction as a result of mortgage foreclosure.  The picture depicts one of the effects of the current state of the economic system.

The annual World Press Photo Contest, which has been in existence for 54 years, has become a standard of quality in the industry.  Each year entries are submitted by photojournalists, agencies, newspapers and magazines from around the world.  This year more than 5,508 photographers from 124 countries submitted an approximate total of 96,268 images.

World Press Photo is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, where it was founded in 1955.  Its mission is to encourage high professional standards in photojournalism and to promote a free and unrestricted exchange of information.  World Press Photo aims to support professional press photography on a wide international scale.  Promotional activities include an annual contest, exhibitions, the stimulation of photojournalism through educational programmes, and creating greater visibility for press photography through a variety of publications.

This photo exhibit is sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the United Nations, in cooperation with the United Nations Department of Public Information.  World Press Photo receives support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery and is sponsored worldwide by Canon, Getty Images and TNT Express.  A selection of winning images is available for publication in the press download area at the World Press Photo website at www.worldpressphoto.nl/downloads.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen at tel.:  +1 212 963 8531 or Liza Wichmann at tel.:  +1 212 963 0089.

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For information media • not an official record