World Press Photo Reveals 2016 Jury Members

After a tumultuous 2015, marred by accusations that the world’s leading photojournalism contest had strayed too far from traditional press photography, World Press Photo has unveiled a roster of 2016 jurors with strong news backgrounds.

This year’s awards will be chaired by Agence France-Presse’s photo director Francis Kohn, who will receive support from wire and newspaper editors such as Thomas Borberg of Denmark’s Politiken, David Furst of the New York Times, and Huang Wen of China’s Xinhua News Agency, as well as photographer Eliana Aponte, to judge the first round of the News categories — the most watched portion of the contest.

“I obviously gave it a lot of thought before accepting the responsibility of chairing the jury,” Kohn says in a statement. “I think my experience in journalism, and specifically in a press agency where you have to be quick and decisive, will be of value. I welcome debate and like teamwork. We will be applying strict ethical rules, but they do not mean the jury has to play it safe. We have to be totally open, to allow ourselves to be surprised and discover another amazing year in photojournalism with fresh eyes.”

In total, 18 photo professionals were selected to judge the various categories with Der Spiegel’s Michaela Herold chairing the Documentary jury, Tim Clayton taking over the Sports categories and Narda van’t Veerof the Ravenstijn Gallery leading the People section (visit the World Press Photo website for a full list of jurors).

For the final round of the judging, seven jurors — Kohn, Herold, van’t Veer and Huang Wen, as well as photographers Tim Clayton and George Steinmetz, and Al Jazeera America’s deputy photo editor Vaughn Wallace (formerly of TIME LightBox) — will come together from the various categories to select this year’s winners.

“Francis Kohn is one of photojournalism’s most esteemed professionals, and under his skilled guidance I am confident this year’s judges will reward the very best work entered,” says Lars Boering, World Press Photo’s managing director. “We approached the best practitioners in the field, and worked hard to get as diverse a group as possible. We are always striving to do better, but this is an excellent jury and a fair representation of the professional photo world.”

The 2016 contest will be open for entries from Dec. 2 with the winners announced on Feb. 18, 2016.