World Press Photo: winners emerge this week

The award-winning photos of the 56th annual World Press Photo Contest will be revealed on Friday, February 15, 2013 at 11.00 a.m. CET. Following the announcement, the awarded images will be published online.

Currently in its 56 th year, the annual competition is the world’s leading contest for professional press photographers and documentary photographers, setting the standard for the profession. 

The jury, led this year by Santiago Lyon, vice president and director of photography at The Associated Press, is now entering the final days of judging. The judging is conducted at the World Press Photo office in Amsterdam. All entries are anonymously presented to the jury, who discuss their merits over a two-week period. The jury operates independently and a secretary without voting rights safeguards the fairness of the procedure. The contest draws entries from professional press photographers, photojournalists and documentary photographers across the world. By the mid-January deadline, 103,481 images had been submitted by 5,666 photographers from 124 countries.

A group of 19 internationally recognized professionals in the fields of photojournalism and documentary photography convened in Amsterdam from 2 to 14 February 2013 to judge all entries. The first and second rounds of judging concluded on 7 February and the final rounds started on 8 February. Video interviews with the chairs of the four specialized juries, with observations from the early rounds, can be viewed in the video library.

The jury awards first, second and third prizes in all categories. First-prize winners in each category receive a cash prize of €1,500. Winners of second and third prizes and those awarded an Honorable Mention receive a Golden Eye Award and a diploma. The premier award, the World Press Photo of the Year, carries a cash prize of €10,000. In addition, Canon will donate a professional DSLR camera and lens kit to the author of the World Press Photo of the Year 2012. The annual Awards Days, a celebration of the prizewinners, takes place in Amsterdam from 25 through 27 April 2013.

The prize-winning pictures are presented in an exhibition visiting more than 100 cities in over 45 countries. The first 2013 World Press Photo exhibition opens in Amsterdam on 26 April 2013.