Note to Correspondents

Secretary-General to Open Photography Exhibit of Winning Entries of Yonhap

 

International Press Photo Awards, at United Nations, 22 August

 

The Yonhap News Agency, the Republic of Korea’s national newswire service, will open an exhibition of press photographs in the Visitors’ Lobby at 6 p.m. on Monday, 22 August.  It will remain open to the public until 8 September.

The exhibition is intended to raise awareness of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and features winning entries from the first Yonhap International Press Photo Awards (YIPPA) announced last month.  The photos on display – either singles or stories — are grouped in three categories:  common prosperity of human beings; enhancement of international peace; and environmental protection measures against climate change.

The award-winning works were selected from a total of 1,938 entries, totalling 5,536 photographs, submitted to YIPPA by photojournalists from 71 countries.  The contest’s top prize went to Emilio Morenatti, a Spanish photojournalist of The Associated Press, whose photos captured cholera victims in Haiti last year.  Other winners include Mohammad Moniruzzaman of The Daily Samakal ( Bangladesh); Bethany Clarke, a freelance photographer ( United Kingdom); Alex Masi of Corbis (United Kingdom Office); Nicolas Asfouri of Agence France-Presse (Thailand Office); Hiroto Sekiguchi of The Yomiuri Shimbun ( Japan); and Cho Young-ho of The Hankook Ilbo ( Republic of Korea).

Opening remarks will be made by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, with statements by Park Jung-chan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Yonhap News Agency, and Kim Sook, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations.  Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, will act as master of ceremonies.  The opening will include an Awards Ceremony.

This exhibit is organized by the Yonhap News Agency and sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea.  Yonhap will donate all proceeds of the exhibition to United Nations funds for disaster, poverty relief and environmental protection.

To obtain additional information about the Yonhap International Press Photo Awards, please visit its official website at http://www.yippa.net.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, please contact Jan Arnesen, tel.:  +1 212 963 8531, e-mail:  arnesen@un.org; or Liza Wichmann, tel.:  +1 212 963 0089, e-mail:  wichmann@un.org; or visit http://visit.un.org.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record