World Press Exhibit Returns to USC
Photo/Arko Datta, Reuters
World Press Photo is the world’s largest and most prestigious annual press photography contest. USC Annenberg is the only U.S. venue outside the United Nations in New York to host the traveling exhibition. The school also was selected as a site for last year’s exhibition.
“It’s an honor to hold the World Press Photo exhibition at USC Annenberg again this year,” said Geoffrey Cowan, USC Annenberg dean and former director of the Voice of America. “World Press Photo not only represents the best in photojournalism, but it also can be seen as a historical document of the world’s major events of the year.”
Larry Gross, USC Annenberg communication school director and an expert in visual communication, said, “The World Press Photo exhibition at USC Annenberg provides a wonderful opportunity to bring the year’s greatest achievements in press photography to students, faculty and members of the Los Angeles community.
“This ongoing partnership with World Press Photo is important for those of us who are committed to supporting the practice of journalism and, particularly, photojournalism,” Gross said.
The independent, international jury of the 48th annual World Press Photo contest selected an image by Indian photographer Arko Datta of Reuters as World Press Photo of the Year. The photograph depicts an Indian woman mourning the death of a relative killed in the December 2004 tsunami catastrophe. The picture was taken in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, on Dec. 28, 2004.
World Press Photo jury chairman Diego Goldberg, an Argentinian photographer, described the winning image as “a true spot-news picture with a strong photographer’s point of view.” According to jury member Kathy Ryan, photo editor of The New York Times Magazine, Datta’s photograph is a “graphic, historical and starkly emotional picture.”
“Photojournalism provokes conversation and thought, which all good journalism should do,” said Michael Parks, former editor of the Los Angeles Times and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting who now directs USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism. “The exhibition provides an excellent teaching opportunity, fostering discussion about how we cover events of our time and the needs of society, while talking about the profession and craft of journalism.”
This year, the World Press Photo contest broke two records: the number of photographers and the number of photographs entered. Some 4,266 professional photographers from 123 countries entered 69,190 images in the competition. It also was the first time that the judging was completely digital. The jury gave prizes in 10 theme categories to 63 photographers of 24 nationalities.
Categories featured are spot news, general news, people in the news, sports action, sports feature, contemporary issues, daily life, portraits, arts and entertainment, and nature.
The exhibition of approximately 200 award-winning photographs will be seen by more than a million people in 85 venues around the world. All prize-winning images are exhibited without any form of censorship.
Hours for the exhibition will be Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. It will be closed on Monday, Jan. 16. The exhibition will be housed in the main lobby of the USC Annenberg building on USC’s University Park campus.
USC Annenberg will host lectures and discussions relating to the exhibition that will be open to the public. For updated information, please visit http://www.annenberg.usc.edu.
World Press Photo receives support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery and is sponsored worldwide by Canon and TNT. Local sponsors of the World Press Photo 05 exhibition at USC Annenberg are Getty Images and the Los Angeles Times.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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