World Press Photo

A mission to connect the world to the stories that matter

Starting with a Contest

It all began in 1955 when a group of Dutch photographers organized an international contest (“World Press Photo”) to expose their work to a global audience.For six decades, the World Press Photo Foundation has been working from its home in Amsterdam as an independent, nonprofit organization.

There are prizes for both the World Press Photo and the World Press Photo Story. All nominated photographers are included in the World Press Photo year-long exhibition, which travels to 50 countries and is seen by more than 4 million people each year, as well as the yearbook.

"The World Press Photo Foundation believes in the power of showing and the importance of seeing high-quality visual stories."

Over time the contest has evolved. There is now an additional digital storytelling contests, which has three categories, short documentaries, long documentaries and interactive digital story telling.

Learning

World Press Photo runs a number of different educational and mentoring initiatives, including the well known Joop Swart Masterclass educational program for emerging and early-career image makers in the field of documentary photography, visual journalism, and visual storytelling.