News

World Press Photo invites professional photographers and photojournalists from around the world to enter the 53rd World Press Photo contest. The web entry site is open for uploading entries from 1 December 2009 until the deadline of 14 January 2010. The web entry site can be accessed via www.worldpressphoto.org/contest. For the 2010 contest, it is no longer possible to submit entries by post on a CD/DVD. Entries submitted by email are also not accepted.

Participants need to apply for a username and password to access the site before midnight on 8 January 2010, but can continue to upload and edit their submissions until 14 January. Previous usernames and passwords are not valid for the 2010 contest. The entry site is easy to use and available in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

The entry rules for next year’s competition include a modified clause about image manipulation: The content of an image must not be altered. Only retouching which conforms to currently accepted standards in the industry is allowed. The jury is the ultimate arbiter of these standards and may at its discretion request the original, unretouched file as recorded by the camera or an untoned scan of the negative or slide.

World Press Photo managing director Michiel Munneke adds: “We realize that by using the phrase ‘currently accepted standards in the industry’, we leave room for interpretation. This is because there is a need for flexibility. The definition of manipulation for a portrait, for example, is not necessarily the same as for a hard news picture.”

Judging
From 30 January until 11 February 2010, a panel of 19 recognized international experts in the field of press photography will be judging the entries at the World Press Photo office in Amsterdam. The chair of the 2010 jury is Ayperi Karabuda Ecer, vice president pictures at Reuters. She advises the participants: “Trust your instincts, and take this opportunity to make your best edit ever. Your pictures should open doors instead of just confirming perspectives. Pay the utmost attention to the way you present your work, and your pictures will take on their own life.”

General contest information, including biographies of the 2010 jury, can also be found on the main World Press Photo website www.worldpressphoto.org.

Awards
Singles pictures as well as photo stories/portfolios are accepted in the following ten categories: Spot News, General News, People in the News, Sports Action, Sports Features, Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, Arts and Entertainment, Portraits, and Nature. The jury will give first, second and third prizes in the single and stories categories. First-prize winners in each category will receive a cash prize of €1,500. The premier award, the World Press Photo of the Year, carries a cash prize of €10,000.

The winners will be announced during a press conference at 11 a.m. C.E.T. on 12 February 2010 at the Amsterdam city hall, and on the World Press Photo website: www.worldpressphoto.org.

The prizewinning pictures are presented in an exhibition that travels to around 100 cities in 45 countries, starting in Amsterdam at the end of April. In addition, a yearbook published in six languages offers an insight into the winning pictures.

In the 2009 contest, 5,508 photographers from 124 countries participated submitting a total of 96,268 photographs.