Jury

2023 World Press Photo Contest jury

Meet the professionals from around the world who reviewed the 2023 World Press Photo Contest entries and selected the best photojournalism and documentary photography of 2022. 

The judging process of the 2023 World Press Photo Contest took place in several rounds, over a six-week period, in January and February 2023. It involved regional juries and a global jury, ​​and took place both online and offline.

Regional juries

In each of the six regions of our new contest model (Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America, South America, and Southeast Asia and Oceania), a selection of entries per category was first made by a regional jury. Find out more about the judging process.

Each jury had a chair responsible for maintaining the integrity of the process, ensuring the deliberations were conducted in accordance with the highest standards, and that all jury members were fully involved in the judging process.

The regional juries are:

Africa
  • Chair: Angela Jimu, Zimbabwe/Malawi, visual storyteller, co-founder and director, Zimbabwe Association of Female Photographers (ZAFP)
  • Andrew Esiebo, Nigeria, photographer
  • Heba Farid, Egypt, artist, curator, researcher, educator and founder of TINTERA
  • Paul Botes, South Africa, picture editor, Mail & Guardian and The Continent
  • Yves Chatap, France/Cameroon, curator, art critic, editor and artistic director, YaPhoto Festival

Asia

  • Chair: Hideko Kataoka, Japan, photo editor, curator, educator, and director of photography, Newsweek Japan
  • Altaf Qadri, India, photojournalist, the Associated Press, founder, Visual Photo Academy
  • Issa Touma, Syria, photographer, curator, and director, LePont Gallery
  • Myriam Boulos, Lebanon, photographer, Magnum, co-founder and photo editor, Al Hayya Magazine
  • Yining He, China, curator and researcher

Europe

North and Central America

South America
  • Chair: Felipe Dana, Brazil, photographer and photo editor, the Associated Press
  • Federico Estol, Uruguay, photographer and festival director, San José Foto
  • Gisela Volá, Argentina , photographer, teacher, curator, and co-founder, Cooperativa Sub
  • Isadora Romero, Ecuador, visual storyteller
  • Marianela Balbi, Venezuela, executive director, IPYS Venezuela

Southeast Asia and Oceania
  • Chair: Maika Elan, Vietnam, photographer and photo editor
  • Evi Mariani, Indonesia, executive director and co-founder, Project Multatuli
  • Mags King, Australia, managing photo editor, The Sydney Morning Herald
  • Veejay Villafranca, the Philippines, photographer and adjunct lecturer
  • Vignes Balasingam, Malaysia, photographer, director and curator, OBSCURA festival of Photography

Global jury

The global jury is composed of the six regional jury chairs and one additional member, the global jury chair. Once the regional juries made their selection of entries, the global jury decided on 24 regional winners and from those, the four global winners: the World Press Photo of the Year, the World Press Photo Story of the Year, the World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award, and the World Press Photo Open Format Award. The global jury could also choose to award Honorable Mentions.

The global jury was assisted by a secretary. The secretary was responsible for all procedural matters and ensured the rules and procedures were fairly and properly applied. The secretary did not contribute to debate on the merits of any entry, and had no vote in the balloting.

The global jury is:

  • Chair:  Brent Lewis, United States, photo editor, The New York Times, co-founder, Diversify Photo
  • Africa jury chair: Angela Jimu, Zimbabwe/Malawi, visual storyteller, co-founder and director, Zimbabwe Association of Female Photographers (ZAFP)
  • Asia jury chair: Hideko Kataoka, Japan, photo editor, curator, educator, and director of photography, Newsweek Japan
  • Europe jury chair: Kateryna Radchenko, Ukraine, curator, and director, Odesa Photo Days Festival
  • North and Central America jury chair: Tomás Ayuso, Honduras, photographer and writer
  • South America jury chair: Felipe Dana, Brazil, photographer and photo editor the Associated Press
  • Southeast Asia and Oceania jury chair: Maika Elan, Vietnam, photographer and photo editor
Secretary: Loup Langton, United States, photographer and editor

Global jury chair

Brent Lewis chaired the 2023 World Press Photo Contest global jury.

Brent Lewis is a photo editor for The New York Times, curating photos on the homepage and covering breaking news around the world. He is also the co-founder of Diversify Photo.

Prior to joining The New York Times, Brent Lewis was a photo editor at The Washington Post, covering Sports and the Styles sections, and was the senior photo editor of ESPN’s The Undefeated, where he drove the visual language of the website that explores the intersection of sports, race, and culture. Before joining the ranks of photo editing, he was a staff photojournalist at The Denver Post, The Rockford Register Star and the Chillicothe Gazette.

"I am looking forward to seeing singles and stories covering issues and topics that might have been missed in the seemingly endless news cycle. Those stories are important and honestly allow us to understand each other better through the use of photography,” stated Brent Lewis.

He added: “With the second year of the new format and this brilliant gathering of regional juries that understand and can emphasize the issues in their regions, I am looking forward to seeing powerful images that enlighten, educate and allow us to understand why these stories matter."