World Press Photo, the world's largest and most prestigious annual press photography contest, makes its third annual trip to USC Annenberg this January, with a wide-ranging exhibit in the East Lobby that is open to the public. The annual event, featuring 200 award-winning images this year, runs January 8 to February 1, 2007.

An independent, international jury selected an image by Canadian photographer Finbarr O'Reilly of Reuters as World Press Photo of the Year. The photograph (above) shows the emaciated fingers of a one-year-old child pressed against the lips of his mother at an emergency feeding clinic in Niger. The picture was taken in Tahoua, in northwestern Niger, on August 1, 2005.

As the representative image of photojournalism for this year's content, the photo was chosen from 83,044 images submitted by 4,000 photographers from 122 countries. Prizes were awarded in 10 categories, recognizing 63 photographers of 25 nationalities. The main overall prize is awarded for "the single photograph that is not only the photojournalistic encapsulation of the year, but represents an issue, situation or event of great journalistic importance, and does so in a way that demonstrates an outstanding level of visual perception and creativity."

The exhibit makes only one other U.S. stop, at the United Nations in New York. During its international tour, the exhibit will be seen by more than a million people in 85 venues.

Hours for the exhibition at USC Annenberg will be Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It will be closed on Monday, January 15. There is an opening reception on Tuesday, Janaury 9, 2007, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. RSVP for this event. On Thursday, January 25, at 7:00 p.m., USC Annenberg will host "Behind the Lens," a reception and discussion with several of the winning photographers moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist David Hume Kennerly.

World Press Photo receives support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery and is sponsored worldwide by Canon and TNT. World Press Photo LA is supported by the Los Angeles Times and Getty Images.

Read the release

Visit World Press Photo 06 on the Web
More about the Photo of the Year

Exhibit hours and location
More about the January 9 reception.
RSVP for the January 9 event.
More about the January 25 discussion
Read more about USC Annenberg's exhibit of photographs by David Hume Kennerly