I'm actually waiting for Thomas to get a signal, where's Thomas?
Are you ready?
Thank you.
Well, welcome at the world press headquarters.
I would very much like before we start to remind you of the embargo.
The embargo counts till two o'clock,
and I would very much like you to respect that embargo.
We are here for the announcements of the winners of the 57th annual world press photo contest.
The contest that received this year 98,671 images,
submitted by 5,754 photographers, coming from 132 countries.
The amount of pictures was slightly less than last year,
but more photographers from more countries participated.
A trend that we warmly welcome.
Obviously this contest is not about statistics, it's not about the numbers,
it's about the quality that really counts.
And one thing I can tell you at this point,
it is that the set of photographs being selected by this year's jury
shows a wide variety in styles and in subjects.
We at Wolpers Photo are very eager to communicate and share that with the rest of the world.
Not only today, but also in April,
where we will start our exhibition tour here in Amsterdam in the Newarkerk,
and more than 100 cities will follow across the globe.
It is a great opportunity for us to make the people and a large public aware,
not only of the best images, but also aware of issues and events that really matter.
We hope to confront the public, we hope to inspire and to make people aware.
For this year's contest, we have award-winning photographers from all different continents.
I would like to give the floor to the president of this year's jury, Mr. Gary Knight,
to shine his light not only on the winning images,
but also to give you a glimpse of what actually happened in this room where you're sitting right now.
Until yesterday, we made the final choices with the jury.
Gary Knight, please.
Thanks, Mikael.
My lights are shining a little dimly, I have to say.
I've been in this room for two weeks, several hours, 12 hours a day.
With my colleagues, and you must forgive me if I'm not at my brightest.
I would like actually to just give a hand.
If the jury members who are in here could just raise their hand so everybody could see who you are.
We're one jury member missing, so you know who to blame, guys.
There's one jury member missing, Koyo had to leave us this morning.
But obviously, you know, I'm not an expert in all of these categories.
You'll have questions about some of these images that I can't answer.
I will attempt to if you want me to, but please engage with the jury members afterwards,
and they might be able to help you a little more.
So this is indeed the room where we judged well-pressed photo,
and you'll have noticed, I'm sure, when you came in the room,
that the legacy of well-pressed photo is writ large.
Every time we wanted a break, every time we took a coffee,
we were out just in the foyer there surrounded by every photograph that has ever won this competition,
and it's a rich and very, very inspiring legacy.
And what came before us was always present to some extent in the room.
I've been here, as you know, four times now.
It's been an incredible privilege, one of the great privileges of my career,
actually, to have participated in this jury process.
And I've participated in many juries of many awards all over the world for the last ten years.
None of those experiences have been like this one.
This has been the most exceptional jury experience,
not only well-pressed generally, but this particular experience this year.
And it's been so, really, because of the quality of the debate and the quality of the discourse,
and the ability with which this jury was able to demand questions of each other,
sometimes very uncomfortable questions,
challenge their own prejudices very, very often,
and their own preconceptions, be persuaded by others
that there was an alternative point of view, more valid than their own.
The ability to lose gracefully debates, it's very, very hard sometimes.
You see an image early in the competition and you think, you know, this is an extraordinary image.
You can get very involved, very, very emotionally involved with the photographs,
with the people in the photographs, with the issues that they represent.
And it's very difficult sometimes to let go of those photographs.
But this jury managed to do that in the most extraordinary way.
And I was really, very, very surprised.
I didn't know all of the jurors before I came, I knew some of them, some better than others,
but I couldn't anticipate really how the debate would go.
One of the challenges for me as the chairman is really to make sure that the conversation flows,
that decisions can be made,
and that everybody in the room feels that they have been heard,
that they're not being ignored, they're not being talked over.
And it was a very easy task this year.
Some of the things we discussed, and, you know, the politics of representation,
how is the world represented?
These are things that were very important to the jury.
How do photographers represent the world?
How should they represent the world?
How do we judge the way they've represented the world?
What's the context of that conversation?
Is there a hierarchy of issues?
Is one story more important than another?
If so, to whom and why?
And these are all very, very complex questions,
especially when you have a jury from five continents,
I think we had 12 nationalities overall,
from five continents discussing photographs that were made all over the world.
There are obviously aesthetic considerations to be made when you're looking at photographs.
Why are you responding to this picture?
Is it an aesthetic consideration?
Is it a journalistic consideration?
Is it the issue?
All of these things were discussed endlessly.
I'm not going to discuss much about the process.
I know some of you may have questions.
I think some of you in the room may be very familiar with this process,
and I know others won't.
If you do want to discuss how we physically and materially arrive at conclusions,
I'm very happy to do that with you to the extent that I'm allowed to.
And we have David Campbell in here, where's David,
who is the secretary of the jury, the gatekeeper of the rules.
So he's very happy to answer any questions too.
I'm going to wrap it up now.
But what I would say is, I know some of you here are experts in photography,
you write about photography, you think about photography,
and you'll be very comfortable in asking questions.
And I know there are other people in the room who are not.
And I would say there is no bad question.
Don't be embarrassed to ask any question at all.
You might hear an air from somewhere over in the corner of the room.
It's a bit of an inside joke for some of the jury.
But do not be afraid to ask any questions.
We really, this is a very open, the judging process is very open,
it's very transparent, and I want this process to be very transparent too.
So if you have any questions, please fire away and we'll do our best.
Do you want me to?
Yeah, next we're going to go through a selection of photographs,
and it will be accompanied by some comments by Gary.
Now, a little bit handicapped, I did ask my colleagues,
I can't speak with authority about all of these pictures,
and many of these pictures are here because some of the jurors just spoke so passionately about them,
and with such grace.
And I asked them to write down their comments and their thoughts,
and I can't read some of what they say, I have to say.
So some of it is being typed up as we speak,
and I'm hoping that will come in the room,
but otherwise I'm going to have to wing it.
And maybe somebody can run out there and see if that typed up notes are ready for me.
Otherwise I'll have to do a song.
Maybe actually, Susie, maybe you'd like to do your impersonation of the chairman of the jury.
Should we see if anyone has any questions about the process, or should we just go into the pictures?
Are there any questions regarding the process that you would like to put forward now?
Can I ask a question?
Yeah, please, go ahead, it'll be great.
Do the winners, they already know they won an award, did you contact them before this presser?
No, except for the winner of the World Press Photo of the Year.
Is that a phone call?
Right.
Okay, I don't think these things are going to arrive, so why don't we just...
Okay, we'll just start with the picture.
