Contact: Geoffrey Baum, (213) 821-1491
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Geoffrey Baum, 213-821-1491
Exhibition showcasing best in photojournalism opens Jan. 8, 2007
LOS ANGELES, December 15, 2006 — The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California will host an exhibition of 200 award-winning images from
World Press Photo 06 from January 8 to February 1, 2007.
The public is invited to the opening reception on
Tuesday, January 9, 2007 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. RSVP online.
World Press Photo is the world’s largest and most prestigious annual press photography contest. USC Annenberg is one of two U.S. locations and the only venue in California to host the international traveling exhibition. The school also was selected as a site for the past two years.
“This exhibit represents the year’s greatest achievements in photojournalism and also serves as a historical document that illuminates the world’s major events,” says
Geoffrey Cowan, dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. “We are delighted to present World Press Photo at USC Annenberg again this year.”
“Through this exhibition, we have the opportunity to share the year’s best press photography with the wider Los Angeles community,” says
Larry Gross, director of the School of Communication and an expert in visual communication. “USC Annenberg’s ongoing partnership with World Press Photo is very exciting for those of us who are committed to showcasing powerful images that communicate the spectrum of human experience.”
The independent, international jury of the World Press Photo contest selected an image by Canadian photographer
Finbarr O’Reilly from Reuters as
World Press Photo of the Year. The photograph shows the emaciated fingers of a 1-year-old child pressed against the lips of his mother at an emergency feeding clinic in Niger. The picture was taken in Tahoua, northwestern Niger, on August 1, 2005.
“This picture has haunted me ever since I first saw it … It has stayed in my head, even after seeing all the thousands of others during the competition. This image has everything – beauty, horror and despair. It is simple, elegant and moving,” said World Press Photo jury chairman
James Colton.
“Photojournalism provokes conversation and thought, as does all good journalism,” says
Michael Parks, director of USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism and Pulitzer Prize-winning international reporter and editor. “World Press Photo provides a great teaching opportunity for the school, fostering discussion about the profession and craft of journalism, as well as how we cover the events of our times.”
This year, the World Press Photo received a record number of entries. More than 4,000 photographers from 122 countries entered 83,044 images. The jury gave
prizes in 10 theme categories to 63 photographers of 25 nationalities.
The main overall prize is awarded for “the single photograph that is not only the photojournalistic encapsulation of the year, but represents an issue, situation or event of great journalistic importance, and does so in a way that demonstrates an outstanding level of visual perception and creativity.” Other categories are spot news, general news, people in the news, sports action, sports feature, contemporary issues, daily life, portraits, arts and entertainment, and nature.
During its international tour, the exhibit will be seen by more than a million people in 85 venues. All prize-winning images are exhibited without any form of censorship.
Hours for the exhibition at USC Annenberg will be Monday through Friday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. It will be closed on Monday, January 15. The exhibition will be housed in the USC Annenberg School, 3502 Watt Way on USC’s University Park Campus in Los Angeles.
On
Thursday, January 25 at 7:00 p.m., USC Annenberg will host “Behind the Lens,” a reception and discussion with several of the winning photographers moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist
David Hume Kennerly.
World Press Photo receives support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery and is sponsored worldwide by Canon and TNT. World Press Photo LA is supported by the Los Angeles Times and Getty Images.
About the USC Annenberg School for Communication
Located in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, the USC Annenberg School for Communication is among the nation’s leading institutions devoted to the study of journalism and communication, and their impact on politics, culture and society. With an enrollment of more than 1,900 students, USC Annenberg offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in communication, journalism, public diplomacy and public relations. For more information, visit
annenberg.usc.edu.
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