The World Press Photo Exhibition returns to Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 8 November 2013. World Press Photo is the premier annual international competition in press photography, bringing together award-winning photographs from around the world which capture the most powerful, moving and sometimes disturbing images of the year.

This year 103,481 images were submitted to the contest from which more than 350 winning photographs were selected. Entries were submitted by 5,666 photographers, representing 124 different nationalities. Exhibited without censorship in 45 countries all over the world, the World Press Photo Exhibition offers an international showcase for all of the competition’s prize-winning entries, and is considered by many to set a standard in the field of photojournalism.

The winning photographs depict human suffering, natural disasters, sporting endeavours and the beauty of the natural world. Subject matters in the news categories cover conflicts in Syria, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan and Sudan. The sport category covers the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the category Nature shows the spectacular views of the underwater world. The exhibition brings together the winning photographs, most of which were taken in 2012.

The winning photograph by Paul Hansen of the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, shows a group of men carrying the bodies of two dead children through a street in Gaza City. They are being taken to a mosque for the burial ceremony while their father’s body is carried behind on a stretcher. Two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and his older brother Muhammad were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. Their mother was put in intensive care.

The 2013 contest saw one UK- based photographer winning a prize. Photographer Nadav Kander won first prize in the category Staged Portraits Single. He won with a portrait of actor, comedian and writer Daniel Kaluuya, best known for his role in the TV drama Skins, and as Special Agent Tucker in the 2011 Rowan Atkinson film Johnny English Reborn.

For more information about World Press Photo, the prize winning images in the exhibition and about the photographers, visit: www.worldpressphoto.org

World Press Photo receives support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery and is sponsored worldwide by Canon.