2012 World Press Photo Contest



Chieko Matsukawa shows her daughter's graduation certificate

 World Press Photo is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955 the organization is known for holding the world's largest annual press photography contest.
The contest creates a connection between the photographic professionals and the general public. Through the publicity the contest generates the inspirational role of photojournalism brought to an audience of hundreds of millions.
All the prize-winning photographs are assembled into an exhibition that travels to 45 countries over the course of a year, and published in a yearbook. Over two million people go to a hundred different venues to see the images, and the yearbook is published in seven languages and distributed worldwide.
The great thing about this type of photography is it can give us a window on the world we might not see otherwise.

What's Your News IQ?

In our class we spend a great deal of time discussing why journalism is important in a democracy. Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” In essence for a democracy to work to its greatest potential, it needs an informed public. The public has a right to know the issues of the day, but for a democracy to function properly the public not only has a right, but a duty to be as informed as possible.

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