World Press Photo announces the 12 young photographers who will participate in the 24th edition of the prestigious Joop Swart Masterclass

Acceptance to the masterclass is based on a system of nomination and selection. The nominating committee selected 187 young photographers this year. An independent selection committee then made the final online selection of the 12 participants based on their submitted portfolio.

The participants:

The following 12 photographers—7 women and 5 men from 11 countries and 5 continents—will join the 2017 Joop Swart Masterclass, to be held in Amsterdam in September:

• Juanita Escobar, Colombia
• Kevin Faingnaert, Belgium
• Rahima Gambo, Nigeria
• Hicham Gardaf, Morocco
• Mojgan Ghanbari, Iran
• Heba Khamis, Egypt
• Alejandro Kirchuk, Argentina
• Adriane Ohanesian, USA
• Shadman Shahid, Bangladesh
• Daro Sulakauri, Georgia
• Rebecka Uhlin, Sweden
• Michael Vince Kim, Argentina/South Korea

The runners-up will automatically be nominated in 2018:

The masters:

We are proud to welcome the following masters this year:

• Magdalena Herrera, France, director of photography Geo France
• Damir Sagolj, Bosnia and Herzegovina, staff photographer Reuters
• Tiago Santana, Brazil, photographer and editor
• Newsha Tavakolian, Iran, photographer Magnum Photos
• Jonathan Torgovnik, USA/Israel, photographer, Verbatim Photo Agency