Part of our role at World Press Photo is to take a step back from the day to day news headlines, to give people opportunities to really look at the images photographers made about these stories, and understand them more deeply.
Here are a few of our highlights from the year. We are a small organization, just 25 people, but we take our responsibility to the press and documentary photographer community, and to exhibition visitors and other lovers of photography world-wide, very seriously. We appreciate the support and trust from all of you, and want you to feel that it was well placed.
All of this is thanks to collaborations with funders, exhibition partners, and the press and documentary photographers community around the world:
We brought stories that matter to millions of exhibition visitors
This year we were honoured to welcome around 4 million visitors to our exhibitions in 89 locations around the world. Hearing from visitors about how deeply the award-winning photos affected them has been incredibly rewarding.
All of these exhibitions were special in different ways, but we can only list a few here:
Ukraine - Despite the ongoing war and logistical challenges, our exhibition partner again found eager audiences in Kyiv and Odesa.
Budapest, Hungary - We returned to a new location in Budapest, without restrictions, ensuring both adults and thousands of high-school students could again visit our annual exhibition.
Several of our exhibition partners celebrated big anniversaries with us - Mexico City and Maia (Portugal) celebrated 25th anniversaries, and Barcelona its 20th anniversary.
We brought
‘Celebrating Communities’ to six different cities in Ivory Coast, in partnership with Noor, and thanks to support from the Tony Chocolonely Foundation and Fondation Donwahi.
We were glad to return to several key locations after years of hiatus, including London, Kyoto, and four locations in Brazil.
In a world where people are increasingly overwhelmed by the constant flow of information online, the importance of physical exhibitions like these have never been more important. It’s an opportunity for visitors to take time and focus on a selection of photographs and the stories behind them.
We helped photographers learn and improve
After a three-year hiatus, the Joop Swart Masterclass returned in 2024 in a renewed format, with a focus on the Middle-East and Northern Africa region, with support from the Porticus Foundation. Thanks to contributions from mentors and guest lecturers, we helped 12 already accomplished photographers develop even further, while building skills for long and sustainable careers.
We also worked with our new partner FUJIFILM Corporation to help photographers learn and improve through collaborations in Amsterdam, Sydney, Lodi, Mexico City, New York City, Barcelona, Kyoto and a masterclass in Jakarta.
We helped photographers work more safely
We piloted
a safety and security training, in collaboration with ACOS and thanks to funding from the Goeie Grutten Foundation. Ten photographers from around the world who are living and working in dangerous contexts were brought to Amsterdam to learn about physical and digital risk assessment, emergency first aid support, digital security, psychological resilience, and trauma management.
In our exhibitions around the world, we also highlighted the risks journalists are facing. In doing so, we joined other organizations raising the alarm about the number of journalists killed by Israeli forces. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), as of 20 December 2024, 141 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war. Of those
confirmed dead, 133 were Palestinians, 2 were Israeli, and 6 were Lebanese.
We recognized and honored press and documentary photographers
Our annual Photo Contest attracted 3,581 photographers from 130 countries, submitting over 61,000 photographs. Regional juries reviewed every single entry before passing a selection on to the global jury - made up of the regional jury chairs plus the global jury chair Fiona Shields, Head of Photography at The Guardian.
The winning photographers joined us in Amsterdam for a program of presentations, portfolio reviews, workshops, networking events, and an awards ceremony. All but one. Mohammed Salem, winner of Photo of the Year, remained in Gaza. He was represented by his brother, Ahmed Salem Jadallah.
For those of us there, the look on Mohamed’s face - as he watched his brother and the other winning photographers step on stage to receive their awards - is something we will carry with us for a long time.
Supported by Pictoright, we also hosted a public day titled ‘The Stories That Matter’ at our flagship exhibition in De Nieuwekerk, Amsterdam, where the awarded photographers (and Ahmed) shared the stories behind their winning photographs. (You can watch them here.)
What will we do in 2025?
Next year marks 70 years of World Press Photo. We’ll be celebrating, as well as contemplating - reflecting on the past as well as looking ahead to the future of press and documentary photography. To commemorate this milestone, a special exhibition is being created.
We are also hard at work on two new thematic exhibitions launching in 2025: ‘Queer Spaces’ (focusing on LGBTQI stories from our archive, premiering during Pride Amsterdam), and ‘Down to Earth’ (about climate change and climate futures).
We are deeply thankful for our strategic sponsors – the Dutch Postcode Lottery, PwC, and FUJIFILM Corporation, who we were thrilled to welcome as a new partner this year. Their support, along with that of our other funders, exhibition visitors, Associates, and individual donors, makes it possible for us to continue pursuing our mission. We couldn’t do it without you — thank you!
Together we will continue to promote quality photojournalism and documentary photography as more essential than ever in an increasingly polarized world.
As said above, we’re a small organization with just 25 staff members, and there is a lot to be done. From the threat of AI powered disinformation, to the increasingly hostile context faced by many journalists, it is vital to support photographers doing good work and to bring their stories to as many people as possible around the world. Please consider supporting this work today, for a better year to come.
Photo credits: Frank van Beek, Maarten Nauw, Laura van Erp, Frank van Beek, Frank van Beek.
