World Press Photo

Thursday 13 November 2008 to Monday 8 December 2008 (26 days)

This event is in the past. This is an archive page for reference.

Winning image by Tim Hetherington

185 award-winning photographs from around the world which capture the most powerful, moving and sometimes disturbing images of the year.

This year a record number of 5,019 photographers from 125 countries submitted 80,536 pictures to be judged by the international jury.

For the first time since 1980 a British photographer has won the main award - World Press Photo of the Year 2007.

It was awarded to Tim Hetherington, working for Vanity Fair, for his photograph of a US soldier resting at 'Restrepo' bunker. The soldier was part of the 2nd Battalion Airborne of the 503rd US infantry undergoing a deployment in the Korengal Valley in the Eastern province of Afghanistan. The valley was the epicentre of the US fight against militant Islam in Afghanistan, and scene of some of the deadliest combat in the region.

'This image represents the exhaustion of a man - and the exhaustion of a nation,' says jury chairman Gary Knight, and adds 'We're all connected to this. It's a picture of a man at the end of a line.' Hetherington's photograph is part of a picture story that was also awarded second prize in General News Stories.

Other UK winners are Platon, First prize winner Portraits Singles, with his famous portrait of Vladimir Putin, and Vanessa Winship, First prize winner Portraits Stories, with a series of portraits of schoolgirls from rural Eastern Turkey. The exhibition brings together photographs in ten different categories: nature, spot news, general news, people in the news, contemporary issues, daily life, portraits, arts and entertainment, sports action and sports features. Photographs range from the horrors of war to the beauty of the natural world, and cover subject matters including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, violence in Zimbabwe and retired circus entertainers.

Exhibited without censorship in 50 countries all over the world, the World Press Photo Exhibition offers an international showcase for all of the competition's prize-winning entries, and is considered by many to set a standard in the field of photojournalism.