World Press Photo in Maia

The award-winning photographs from this year’s edition of World Press Photo are on display at Fórum da Maia until 22nd November. It is the best of photojournalism to see and reflect upon.

Fórum da Maia is hosting the World Press Photo exhibition for the nineteenth consecutive year. In the exhibition, we can see all the awarded photographs in this year’s edition of the most important photojournalism award in the world.

The World Press Photo competition is the world’s premier competition for press photographers, photojournalists and documentary photographers at the professional level and sets the standards of the profession. This year’s contest attracted 4,738 photographers from 129 countries. In total, 78,801 images were submitted to the competition. The winning photographs are presented in an exhibition that tours to more than 100 cities in over 45 countries.

The Photograph of the Year is by John Moore, entitled “Girl crying at the border” and portrays a Honduran child, Yanela Sanchez, crying when she and her mother, Sandra Sanchez, are taken into custody by US border officials, in McAllen, Texas.

A Portuguese photographer, Mário Cruz, received the 3rd Prize in the Environment category, with a photograph entitled “Living among what was left behind”, which depicts a child collecting recyclable material on a mattress surrounded by rubbish floating in the Pasig River in Manila, Philippines. This photographer had also seen his work awarded at a previous edition of World Press Photo.

The World Press Photo has been held in Maia for 19 years and is already an event of great relevance in the North region, being awaited with enormous expectation by the thousands of people who usually visit the exhibition. Every year the exhibition receives a large number of visitors, including study visits organised by educational institutions. Last year around 9,000 people visited the exhibition in Maia.