past exhibitions

Pictures of the Year International
The World. In High Resolution

July 11 - November 1, 2009

The second exhibition at the Annenberg Space for Photography honors the work of winning photojournalists and visual editors from Pictures of the Year International (POYi), the oldest and most prestigious photojournalism competition in the world. After 65 years at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, POYi has moved to Los Angeles, where for the first time, the images will be on display for more than just a few days. The exhibit perfectly showcases the alignment of POYi goals and the mission of Annenberg Space for Photography to inform and inspire the public by connecting photographers, social consciousness, and the human experience through powerful imagery and stories.

The exhibited print and digital photographs tell the tale of 2008, a year rife with war and financial ruin and relieved by unprecedented political and athletic triumphs. The images were chosen from more than 45,000 entries submitted by photographers from dozens of countries. Additional POYi prizes recognize the year’s top newspaper and magazine photographers as well as exceptional long-term documentary work via the World Understanding, Global Vision, and Community Awareness awards.

The resulting collection is testimony to the prowess of today’s photojournalists and the complexity of the global age. As a whole, the images combine to create a visual representation of recent events while revealing the conflicted ethos of our modern civilization with themes ranging from degradation to personal achievement, community to isolation, and human creation to the inexplicable wonders of nature.

Digital Feature
In addition to the print and digital galleries, the POYi digital show offers a contemplative presentation of the 1st place winners in all categories appearing on large 4K projection screens in the digital gallery with additional winning photographs displayed on surrounding HD screens.

The POYi feature digital video presentation tells the story of international photojournalism through the images and voices of photojournalists, photo editors and academics. The photography featured in this presentation is drawn from over 1400 award-winning images. Commentary is provided by Premiere Award winning photojournalists from around the world; editors from the New York Times and Los Angeles Times; and educators from the University of Southern California and University of Missouri.

Voice of the Photographer Videos
Playing in the Workshop are Voice of the Photographer video segments featuring insights and perspectives from Premiere Award Winners. Arclight Productions traveled around the globe to capture interviews with six of the winning photojournalists.