By Tajudeen Sowole
THE dream of turning Lagos into another
photography destination in Africa has received a boost with a partnership
agreement between a yearly event, LagosPhoto
and the well-known World Press Photo
Contest.
According to a statement from African Artists Foundation, the organizers
of LagosPhoto, a three-year
partnership has been reached with the prestigious World Press Photo to bring
the competition to Lagos.
Currently, The Bamako
Encounters, Mali is Africa’s leading photography event. Debuted in 2010, LagosPhoto is designed as a photography
festival with events such as indoor and outside exhibitions, workshops and
amateur competition. During the 2012 edition of LagosPhoto, the work of a five-time World Press Photo Contest
winner, Stanley Greene was exhibited alongside other photographers from across
the world.
The World Press Photo, founded
in 1955, organises post-award exhibitions, which are taken to several countries
after the winners of the award are announced every February. Although the list
of the countries where the post-award exhibitions would hold have not been
released on the website of the organisers, Lagos may just be one of the venues
where the exhibitions of the works of the finalists from the 2013 edition will
hold.
However,
LagosPhoto is optimistic that it has
a partnership with the World Press Photo. “LagosPhoto
is proud to announce a three-year partnership with World Press Photo, which
will bring the preeminent worldwide competition of photojournalism and
documentary photography to Lagos,” the statement from LagosPhoto assured.
The
statement clarified further, “the three-year contract with World Press Photo
will bring the international photography competition each year alongside
LagosPhoto.”
It
should be recalled that during the 2012 edition of World Press Photo, Africa
participated when Tunisia’s Centre National D'art Vivant De Tunis was among the
nine cities where the tour exhibitions held across the world.
However, the Media
Coordinator of World Press Photo, Barbara Bufkens, in her response via
email stated, “The 2013 exhibition tour
will start in April. Our calendar has not been updated yet, as it changes every
year.” She listed Tunis, Djerba, Luanda, Cape Town as previous African cities
that had hosted past editions.
Meanwhile, categories for the 2013 have been
slightly changed compared to the previous editions.
Managing Director, World
Press Photo, Michiel Munneke stated: "In 2010, we introduced the system of
specialized juries for Sports, Nature, and Portraits, to bring more focus into
the judging. We have spoken with former judges and people throughout the
industry and believe it is time for the next step in the contest. For the 2013
Photo Contest, we have refined the category definitions to improve the quality
of the entries."
The list of the 2013 Photo Contest categories
include: General News, Spot News, Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, People, Observed Portraits, Staged
Portraits, Nature, Sports, Sports
Action and Sports Feature.
Munneke noted, "There are a growing number of awards and
recognitions for photojournalists, but World Press Photo is unique. The scope
of its reach brings the work of photojournalists to the general public through
the exhibition and website, which draw millions. While adapting the categories,
we want to sustain that relationship and keep the categories clear and
recognizable to our audiences."
World Press Photo also organises educational projects throughout
the
world: seminars, workshops and the annual Joop Swart Master class. Each year,
distinguished juries of photography professionals announce prizes for winning
photographs, which are assembled as an exhibition and travelled to over 45
countries in the course of the year. As the largest and most prestigious
international photography contest, the World Press Photo exhibition reaches an
audience of over two million people annually.
Gary
Knight, the founder of one of the world’s leading photo agencies, VII Photo
Agency, will chair the 56th World Press Photo Contest.
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