Arko Datta won the 2005 World Press Photo competition with his image of a woman mourning the death of a relative killed in the 2004 Asian tsunami tragedy that claimed 300,000 lives. [Arko Datta/Reuters]

World Press Photo exhibit
heads to United Nations

UNITED NATIONS (Fotophile.com) — Highlights from the 2005 World Press Photo international competition will go on display at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 3 May 2005.

This year's winner, an image by Indian photographer Arko Datta of Reuters, shows a woman mourning the death of a relative who was killed in the Asian tsunami catastrophe triggered by a massiver underwater earthquake off the coast of Indonesia.

The series of resulting tsunamis, reaching as far as Somalia and Tanzania, killed approximately 300,000.

World Press Photo jury chairman Diego Goldberg described the winning image as "a true spot news picture with a strong photographer's point of view."

The U.N. exhibit will run through 6 June 2005.

For his win, Datta received 10,000 euro at the awards ceremony on 24 April 2005 in Amsterdam and a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II camera.

A record 4,266 professional photographers from 123 countries entered 69,190 images in the annual World Press Photo contest. It was also the first time the competition was entirely digital.

Winners this year in other categories include J.F. Diorio of Brazil for his image of a girl shielding her eyes as fire rages through her favela; Kristen Ashburn of the U.S. for her stark post-mortem portrait of a Palestinian man killed by an Israeli sniper; James Nachtwey of the U.S. for his timeless picture of a Sudanese refugee; and David Guttenfelder of the U.S. for his daily life pictorial of women casting ballots in Afghanistan's first-ever direct presidential election.

Sports photographers Bob Martin of the United Kingdom won for his image of a Spanish swimmer in the Paralympics and Adam Pretty of Australia for his photograph of Olympic swimmers. Daniel Silva Yoshisato of Peru won for his feature story on the Peruvian women's soccer team.

Francesco Zizola of Italy won for his portrait of a Ugandan refugee; Tommaso Bonaventura of Italy for his sweeping, dramatic image of Russians on pilgrimage; and Jahi Chikwendiu of the U.S. won for a picture of a massive sandstorm in the Darfur region of Sudan. [2005.05] | TOP

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