worldpressphoto

World Press Photo Disqualified 16% of Finalists This Year

The prestigious World Press Photo photojournalism contest was rocked by scandal last year after 20% of finalists were disqualified and the grand prize winner was stripped of his award, leading to the establishment of a new Code of Ethics.

Did the negative publicity and new guidelines do anything? Well, you can be the judge: World Press Photo has revealed that 16% of finalists were thrown out this year.

These Are The World’s Best News Photos of 2015

A year has passed since the controversial World Press Photo contest in which 20% of the finalists were disqualified the prestigious award was stripped from the winner, and today World Press Photo just announced the best news photos of 2015.

The Photo of the Year, shown above, is titled "Hope for a New Life" and was captured by Australian photographer Warren Richardson. It shows a baby being passed through a fence at the Hungarian-Serbian border in Röszke, Hungary, on August 28th, 2015.

That Painful World Press Photo Decision

The tumult surrounding the World Press Photo awards for the last couple of weeks has been quite earth-shaking. An Italian photographer, who had been awarded for “Contemporary Issues” was, finally, disqualified for having mis-labelled where a picture was shot (not in the town of Charleroi which was listed on the entry but 30 miles away in Bruxelles.)

World Press Photo Reopens Investigation After New Accusation Emerges

Update: World Press Photo has decided to strip Troilo of his 1st place award.

Things are getting messier and messier for World Press Photo. After investigating a 1st prize winner due to accusations of unethical staging, the prestigious contest defended the photographer this week and stood by its award decision (much to the dismay of many in the photojournalism industry).

There's a new twist in the story, though: a new accusation is now being made against the photographer, causing WPP to reopen its investigation.

World Press Photo And Its Credibility Issue

“World Press Photo is committed to supporting and advancing high standards in photojournalism and documentary photography worldwide.”

That's what the "About The Foundation" page on the World Press Photo says. Now follow this timeline of recent events.

World Press Photo Stands By Its Decision for Award Despite Town’s Protests

We shared last week that the Belgian town of Charleroi was protesting after a series of photos casting it in a bad light was awarded 1st prize at the prestigious World Press Photo contest. According to the town's mayor, Italian photographer Giovanni Troilo had gone out of his way to stage shots for the purpose of painting the city as "The Dark Heart of Europe."

Today, after investigating the claims against the photographer, World Press Photo announced that it will be sticking by its decision on the controversial award.

Town Accuses Photographer of Staging His Shots That Won World Press Photo

Charleroi is a town of about 200,000 people in Belgium that has fallen upon some tough times in recent years due to increases in unemployment, poverty, and crime. Italian photojournalist Giovanni Troilo pointed his lens at the city last year, capturing a gloomy photo essay titled "The Dark Heart of Europe." The images were recently awarded 1st prize at the prestigious World Press Photo contest in the Contemporary Issues category.

The contest, which already got a black eye after 20% of the finalists were disqualified for unethical photo editing, has another messy problem on its hands: the town is accusing Troilo of staging his winning photos.

NPPA Calls on Photographers Disqualified from WPP to Share Their ‘Shopped Photos

The world of photojournalism took a hit earlier this month when it was revealed that 20% of the finalists in the prestigious World Press Photo competition had been disqualified due to unethical edits. The National Press Photographers Association released a statement this past weekend calling for the disqualified photographers to share the edits that eliminated them from competition.

China Takes Winning Prestigious Photo Contests Very, Very Seriously

China is a country that's known to take the Olympics (the summer ones, at least) very seriously as the nation competes for a bigger presence on the world stage. Chinese gold medal winners become instant superstars and the role models for a generation of aspiring athletes.

It turns out photography is another field in which China is trying to become a world superpower, and its efforts are bearing fruit.

John Stanmeyer Shares the Story Behind His World Press Photo of the Year

Controversy over the World Press Photo organization and the way they handle their judging aside, most people were in agreement that photographer John Stanmeyer deserved the award he received this year. In the above video, the World Press Photo winner shares some insight as to how his widely-praised photograph came to be.

Crunching the Numbers on the World Press Photo Photographers’ Gear

Each year, the breakdown of gear usage statistics by some of the largest news agencies and associations makes itself public; and this year is no exception, thanks to this infographic provided by hastalosmegapixeles.

Looking through the infographic, we get a great look at what gear the press photography pros prefer when they're out in the field shooting World Press Photo award-winners.

This Contest Winner Looks Like a Movie Poster (And That’s Good)

John Stanmeyer of VII won the World Press Photo of the Year on Thursday with this magnificent image of migrants in Djibouti trying to get a cheaper cell phone signal from neighboring Somalia.

It looks like a movie poster, but not for the reasons that I complained about last year.

World Press Photo Jury Chair Talks About This Year’s Impressive Winning Images

World Press Photo 2014 jury chair Gary Knight has said that many of this year's entries into the contest were "missing something" -- and there's quite a bit of controversy surrounding the contest -- but he doesn't want that to take away from your opinion of the winning photographs.

To that end, World Press Photo has released the video above in which Knight talks about several of the winning entries and why the jury picked them to take home first (and in one case second) prize.

This Year’s World Press Photo: Conflicts of Interest and 8% of Finalists Disqualified

After last year's controversy over the winner of the World Press Photo of the Year, all eyes were on the organization as they announced the winner of this year's contest.

But while general consensus from the photo community seems to be that John Stanmeyer deserved this year's award, talk of conflicts of interest and the high percentage of disqualifications due to photo manipulation are plaguing the contest.

African Migrants Looking for Cell Signal by Moonlight Wins World Press Photo 2013

Last year's World Press Photo of the Year award went to a controversial image of a funeral procession in Gaza, City. This year's winning photo doesn't strike the same tragic nerve as last year's, and yet it makes such a powerful statement about technology and our global community that we immediately understood why it took home the top prize.

Forensics Analyst Claims That the World Press Photo Winner is a Composite

Dr. Neal Krawetz, a computer science PhD who specializes in non-classical computer forensics, online profiling, and computer security, made some pretty damning claims in a blog post recently. After taking a close look at Paul Hansen World Press Photo 2012 winner (seen above), he concluded that it was "a digital composite that was significantly reworked."

World Press Photo Winner Had to Sell His Camera Last Year to Survive

26-year-old freelance photojournalist Daniel Rodrigues landed the biggest 'win' of his photographic career this year when it was announced that his photo Football in Guinea-bissau (shown above) had won 1st prize in the prestigious World Press Photo competition's Daily Life category.

The win was more than a fancy new line on his resume: you see, just two years ago Rodrigues was flat broke, and this award will allow him to resume the career that he almost had to abandon to survive.

Darkrooms are Irrelevant and The Truth Matters

On April 8, 2011, Senator Jon Kyl was quoted on the Senate floor as saying, "If you want an abortion, you go to Planned Parenthood, and that’s well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does."

This is not a post about abortion or Planned Parenthood. This is a discussion about veracity and why it matters in photojournalism. In fact, about 3% of Planned Parenthood’s services are abortion-related. When Sen. Kyl was confronted with the facts, his office responded with “his remark was not intended to be a factual statement.”

Why Do Photo Contest Winners Look Like Movie Posters?

This is an incredible photo. The range of emotions expressed (anger, grief, despair), the position of the people and bodies, and proximity of the photographer to the subject make it an incredible moment in time. And because of these elements, this photo was deservedly named the World Press Photo of the Year.

It also looks like an illustration.

Gaza City Funeral Procession Photo Wins World Press Photo 2012

The photograph above by Swedish Dagens Nyheter photographer Paul Hansen has been selected as the World Press Photo of the Year 2012. It's a powerful image that shows a funeral procession in Gaza City, with men carrying the bodies of two children while the body of their father trails behind on a stretcher.

Photog Receives World Press Photo Honorable Mention for Street View Shots

Does Google Street View count as photojournalism? That's the question that's being discussed on the Interwebs after photographer Michael Wolf was given honorable mention in this year's World Press Photo contest for a series of photographs made using Google's Street View. "A Series of Unfortunate Events" contains photographs created by Wolf of unique scenes found in Google's street imagery, which is captured by Google using special camera-equipped vans driven down streets.

Photojournalism Dead, Declares Former Magnum Head

Newspapers are fading. News media is in a limbo of redefinition. Now we can add photojournalism to that list of defunct media, said Neil Burgess, head of London-based photo agency NB Pictures. Burgess is also the former head of Network Photographers and Magnum Photos, and twice Chairman of World Press Photo, and has spent much of his life working on social documentary photography and 25 years as a photojournalist.