Press photo exhibition begins in Bahrain on Thursday

Manama: World Press Photo of the Year 2008, the world's largest press photography exhibition, will be shown in Bahrain from May 1 to 22, organisers said.

It will be the exhibition's fourth consecutive visit to Bahrain.

"The exhibition has grown in popularity since the first exhibition in 2005, and we are proud to bring it back to Bahrain in 2008," said Adam Sunderland, CEO of Miracle Graphics. "Because the show is so popular in Bahrain the World Press Photo Foundation has chosen the country as one of the first venues for the 2008 tour.

"This is a unique opportunity to witness the world's major events of 2007 in a visually stunning and thought-provoking way," he said.

The travelling exhibition features over 200 award winning photographs in ten different press photography categories.

"Entries, judged by an independent international jury of experts, are submitted by photojournalists, agencies, newspapers and magazines.

"This year, a record number of 5,019 photographers from 125 countries sent in 80,536 images, an increase of 12.5% compared with 2007," the organisers said in a statement to Gulf News.

Altogether 59 photographers of 23 nationalities were awarded prizes. They are from Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the People's Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the US and Zimbabwe.

The annual exhibition is shown at about 90 venues in 40 countries.

World Press Photo, founded in 1955, is an independent non-profit organisation based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.