World Press Photo 2011

Alan, what is World Press Photo?
World Press Photo is an organisation based in Holland that runs a competition amongst newspaper and freelance photographers to display their best work. This is the 54th annual contest. Something like 100,000 images are submitted by 6,000 photographers of 128 nationalities.

What are the winning images like typically?
Always amazing. Many of the photographs are confronting. Of course, there are fascinating images that aren't involved in war: the nature photographs are just wonderful every year. But the fact of the matter is, pretty horrible things happen around the world constantly, and photographers get into these places and bring us out those images. They're able to show us things that you wouldn't see on your television news.

How long has the State Library hosted the show?
For over ten years now. I remember when it was first mooted I was asked what I thought about the pictures. I thought they were pretty confrontational. That evening I was walking home and I got onto the station platform down at Martin Place and in those days they used to have television screens showing clips from that day's news. The news comes on and it was like whales in Sydney Harbour, the interest rate up half a per cent, and Prince Charles kisses Camilla Parker Bowles! And I went to work the next day and said, "We need this show."

Any general thoughts on what makes for a great press photo?
A great press photograph has to show you something you've never seen before. And it should make you think.

View our photo slideshow below

01. World Press Photo of the Year 2010
Jodi Bieber, South Africa, Institute for Artist Management/Goodman Gallery for Time magazine
Bibi Aisha, 18, who was disfigured as retribution for fleeing her husband's house in Oruzgan province, in the center of Afghanistan. At the age of 12, Aisha and her younger sister had been given to the family of a Taliban fighter under a Pashtun tribal custom for settling disputes. When she reached puberty she was married to him, but she later returned to her parents' home, complaining of violent treatment by her in-laws. Men arrived there one night demanding that she be handed over to be punished for running away. Aisha was taken to a mountain clearing, where she was held down, and had first her ears sliced off, and then her nose. In local culture, a man who has been shamed by his wife is said to have lost his nose, and such treatment is considered punishment in kind. Aisha was abandoned, but later rescued and taken to a shelter in Kabul run by the aid organization Women for Afghan Women, where she was given treatment and psychological help. After time in the refuge, she was taken to America, where she received counseling and reconstructive surgery.

02. 2nd Prize Spot News Single
Daniel Morel, Haiti
Rescue of a woman trapped under earthquake rubble, Port-au-Prince, 12 January

03. 2nd Prize Spot News Stories
Corentin Fohlen, France, Fedephoto
Anti-government riots, Bangkok, Thailand, May

04. 1st Prize General News Single
Riccardo Venturi, Italy, Contrasto
Old Iron Market burns, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 18 January

05. 1st Prize General News Stories
Olivier Laban-Mattei, France, Agence France-Presse
Haiti earthquake aftermath, 15-26 January
A man throws a dead body at the morgue of the general hospital, Port-au-Prince, 15 January

06. 2nd Prize People In The News Single
Seamus Murphy, Ireland, VII Photo Agency
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, London, 30 September

07. 1st Prize People In The News Stories
Daniel Berehulak, Australia, Getty Images
Pakistan floods, August-September:
Flood victims scramble for food as they battle the downwash from a Pakistan army helicopter during relief operations, Dadu, Pakistan, 13 September.

08. 1st Prize Sport Single
Mike Hutchings, South Africa, for Reuters
Netherlands Demy de Zeeuw is kicked in the face by Uruguay’s Martin Cáceres during World Cup semi-final, Cape Town, 6 July
(Image not available)

09. 1st Prize Sport Stories
Adam Pretty, Australia, Getty Images
Sports portfolio:
Ioran Etchechury of Brazil trips and falls headfirst, during the Boys 2000-meter Steeplechase, at Bishan Stadium, during the Youth Olympics in Singapore, in August. The first ever Youth Olympic Games attracted 3,351 athletes between the ages of 14 and 18, nominated by 204 National Olympic Committees.

10. 2nd Prize Contemporary Issues Single
Ed Kashi, USA, VII Photo Agency
Nguyen Thi Ly, 9, suffers from Agent Orange disabilities, Da Nang, Vietnam

11. 1st Prize Contemporary Issues Stories
Ed Ou, Canada, Reportage by Getty Images
Escape from Somalia, March:
Four Somali refugees en route to Yemen sleep in the desert after traveling all night on muddy roads and in pouring rain, Somaliland, 15 March.

12. 1st Prize Daily Life Single
Omar Feisal, Somalia, for Reuters
Man carries a shark through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, 23 September

13. 1st Prize Daily Life Stories
Martin Roemers, The Netherlands, Panos Pictures
Metropolis

14. 2nd Prize Portraits Single
Joost van den Broek, the Netherlands, de Volkskrant
Kirill Lewerski, cadet on Russian tall ship Kruzenshtern
(Image not available)

15. 3d Prize Portraits Stories
Kenneth O'Halloran, Ireland
Fairground public, Ireland

16. 1st Prize Arts and Entertainment Single
Andrew McConnell, Ireland, Panos Pictures for Der Spiegel
Joséphine Nsimba Mpongo practices the cello, Kinshasa, DR Congo

17. 2nd Prize Arts and Entertainment Stories
Daniele Tamagni, Italy
The Flying Cholitas, Bolivia:
Lucha libre (Bolivian wrestling) is one of the most popular sports in the country. Women wrestlers are known as cholitas and have in the last ten years become popular in the sport. Here, Carmen Rosa and Yulia la Pacena perform in a benefit show to raise money for the bathrooms of a school in La Paz, Bolivia, 26 June.

18. 2nd Prize Nature Single
Reinhard Dirscherl, Germany, for Mare magazine
Atlantic sailfish attack Spanish sardines, off Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

19. 1st Prize Nature Single
Thomas P. Peschak, Germany/South Africa, Save Our Seas Foundation
Cape Gannet comes to land, Malgas Island, South Africa