World Press Photo exhibition returns to Singapore at National Museum

The annual World Press Photo (WPP) exhibition, which showcases 145 powerful and poignant images from around the world, returns to Singapore on Friday.

It's the fifth year that the exhibition is being held in the city state. This is the first time the exhibition, presented by the Straits Times, is held at National Museum of Singapore.

Baey Yam Keng, parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, officiated the opening ceremony on Thursday evening. The exhibition opens to the public for free from Friday to Feb. 21.

As the "Oscars" of photojournalism, the global traveling exhibition showcases prize-winning photographs that captured the most powerful, expressive, and on occasion provocative press images from around the world.

These photos were shortlisted from 97,912 entries submitted by 5,692 photographers from 131 countries for the annual WPP contest. The 58th exhibition itself has traveled to around 100 cities in about 45 countries and regions in a year-long tour.

In conjunction with the opening ceremony, two award-winning photographers, Pete Muller, an American based in Kenya, Sarker Protick from Bangladesh; and Sim Chi Yin, a judge in the WPP competition for 2016, talked about photojournalism on Thursday.

Patrick Daniel, editor-in-chief of the English, Malay, Tamil Media Group of Singapore Press Holdings Limited, said the exhibition showcases the best work of many talented photojournalists. He hopes the public can appreciate the impact these dedicated professionals make to the stories.

The Straits Times also pays tribute to the power of the visual image with an exhibition showcasing the newspaper's best photojournalism work of 2015.

These photos depict various moments of an event-filled golden jubilee year, from historic events like the funeral of Singapore's founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, to intimate moments such as a baptism at East Coast Park. Enditem