World Press Photo have announced the participants and masters of the 25th edition of the prestigious photography masterclass. 

Since its creation in 1994, the Joop Swart Masterclass has brought together young, promising photographers with the most experienced individuals in visual journalism in order to share and pass on knowledge and experience. World Press Photo announced the names of the 12 young photographers who will participate in the 25th edition of the prestigious Joop Swart Masterclass during the foundation's annual festival.

Acceptance to the masterclass is based on a system of nomination and selection. The nominating committee selected 219 photographers this year. An independent selection committee then made the final online selection of the 12 participants based on their submitted portfolio.

The participants:

The following 12 photographers—9 women and 3 men from 9 countries and 5 continents—will join the 2018 Joop Swart Masterclass, to be held in Amsterdam in September:

• Mustafah Abdulaziz, USA
• Alfredo Bosco, Italy
• Sharon Castellanos, Peru
• Sabiha Cimen, Turkey
• Samar Hazboun, Palestine
• Alexandra Rose Howland, USA
• Katinka Hustad, Norway
• Ksenia Kuleshova, Russia
• Philip Montgomery, USA
• Leonard Pongo, Belgium
• Ashfika Rahman, Bangladesh
• Tasneem Alsultan, Saudi Arabia
• Cansu Yildiran, Turkey (Due to unforeseen circumstances Cansu Yildiran has been deferred to the next edition of the Joop Swart Masterclass. We hereby introduce Alfredo Bosco, the first runner-up, as a 2018 JSM participant.
  
  

The runners up will be automatically nominated in 2019:

• Marie Hald, Denmark
  
  

The masters:

• Stephen Dupont, Australia, documentary photographer
• Simona Ghizzoni, Italy, photographer and film-maker, Canon Ambassador and member of MAPS and ZONA
• Magdalena Herrera, France, director of photography Geo France
• Joachim Naudts, Belgium, curator and editor FOMU

Theme: ‘Generation Y’

The masterclass will take place this year from Monday 24 to Friday 28 September, in Amsterdam. The participants will receive an immersive, hands-on educational experience with the four prominent experts, as well as guest speakers visual storyteller Dirk-Jan Visser and photo editor/photographer Kathryn Cook-Pellegrin, International Committee of the Red Cross, to discuss all aspects of their work and the profession. Each day of the masterclass will also include scheduled discussions around current industry debates, such as exhibitions, books, business development, multimedia and legal aspects.

In preparation for the masterclass, the participants have to produce a photo essay on a single theme, this year “Generation Y” which refers to the theme of the very first masterclass in 1994 “Generation X”. The photo essays will be discussed and edited during sessions with the masters. We intentionally do not give participants extensive information on the theme and subject, since we think the research beforehand and their considerations which have led to a certain approach are part of the assignment and are skills that will be discussed during the Masterclass. Participants are free to interpret the subject in their own way.

The Joop Swart Masterclass is made possible by Conscious Hotels, ICRC, LensCulture, and Volkshotel.