Festival of Politics 2006:

Scottish Parliament's Festival of Politics to host prestigious World Press Photo Exhibition

News release issued 21 May 2006
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The Scottish Parliament will host one of the world's largest and most prestigious photographic exhibitions as part of this year's Festival of Politics in Edinburgh in August.

Showing in Scotland for the first time, the World Press Photo exhibition is the result of a worldwide annual competition attracting entries from leading photojournalists, agencies, newspapers and magazines from all corners of the globe. Judged each year in the Netherlands by an international jury of recognised experts, the World Press Photo this year celebrates its 50th anniversary since its founding in 1955. View a selection of winning images.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, by Michael Appleton, New York Daily News.

The Holyrood exhibition will contain more than 200 striking images from life-changing world events in 2005. The winning images were selected from more than 83,000 photographs submitted by 4,448 professional photographers from 122 countries. The exhibition will be free to view and will be held in the Scottish Parliament between 22 August and 7 September 2006.

Images will include photographs taken in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina which led to the flooding of New Orleans, of families in Kashmir battling for survival following the earthquake which levelled remote villages last October, and images captured during conflicts in the Middle East.

Among the prize-winning photojournalists is Kieran Dodds of The Herald and Evening Times who was awarded first prize in the nature section for his photo story on the estimated eight million straw-coloured fruit bats that arrive in the Kasanka National Park in Zambia each October (pictured below).

Other UK and Irish winners include Edmond Terakopian of the Press Association awarded third place in the Spot News category for his image of a commuter caught in the aftermath of London's Edgware Road Underground bombing in July, and Marcus Bleasdale of Ireland awarded second prize in the Daily Life section for his photographs of street children in the Congo.

The thought-provoking images will line the Scottish Parliament's Public Foyer forming an inspiring addition to the Festival of Politics. Taking place between 23 and 26 August, the Festival is one of the first of its kind and has attracted high-profile speakers from the worlds of politics, the arts and journalism.

Last year's inaugural Festival of Politics proved a groundbreaking addition to Edinburgh's festival season, attracting almost 3,000 people to 22 events and receiving an "Editors' Top Ten Award from ThreeWeeks - the Edinburgh festivals' premier review publication.

The Festival of Politics 2006 is shaping up to be bigger and better than the first. It has been expanded by one day to include Saturday events for the whole family and will feature more than 50 debates, workshops and performances ranging from educational games for children to challenging discussions on global political issues.

Last year's speakers included Vanessa Redgrave, Neil Kinnock and Andrew Marr. This year's line-up will be announced in June.

Migration of Fruit Bats in Zambia, by Kieran Dodds, Evening Times/The Herald.

The Scottish Parliament's Presiding Officer, George Reid, said:

"The awe-inspiring images of the World Press Photo exhibition are not always comfortable viewing, but each year these images make a lasting impression on audiences world-wide.

"Bringing the exhibition to Holyrood as part of this year's Festival of Politics is a great coup. And with around 50 events taking place over four days, this summer's Festival promises to be even bigger and better than the critically acclaimed first Festival of Politics in 2005."

Background Notes

The full programme of events for the Festival of Politics 2006 will be announced in late June. The 2005 event included presentation, debate and performance from: Vanessa Redgrave, Andrew Marr, Neil Kinnock, Shirley Williams, Anne Lorne Gillies, Tom Devine, Ted Cowan and Rowena Arshad.

World Press Photo celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Each year, an independent international jury of thirteen members judges the entries in ten different categories. This year's competition attracted 4,448 photographers from 122 countries. In total 98 percent of the 83 ,044 submitted images was entered in digital format.

The annual exhibition is shown each year in approximately 85 venues in 40 countries across the world, subject to the condition that all prizewinning entries are exhibited without censorship. This year's exhibition contains approximately 200 photographs. The Festival of Politics is staging the exhibition in association with the Scottish National Photography Centre. The cost of the exhibition's visit to Scotland is covered by sponsorship from BAA Scotland. The exhibition also receives international support from Canon, TNT and the Netherlands National Postcode Lottery.

The World Press Photo foundation is an independent platform for international press photography, founded in 1955 in the Netherlands. This platform manifests itself in the annual World Press Photo contest and the corresponding yearbook and exhibition.

World Press Photo aims to increase public interest in press photography and to promote the free flow of information worldwide. World Press Photo also stimulates discussion about aspects of photojournalism among those who are professionally involved in it. This takes the form of initiating and organizing the annual Joop Swart Masterclass and seminars and debates in different countries.

For further information contact: [email protected]

Telephone: 0131 348 6852.

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The Festival of Politics is an initiative of the Scottish Parliament.

The Festival of Politics 2006 Partners are:
Standard Life; BAA Scotland; and ScottishPower.