World Press Sydney

Title: Wedding in the Flood. © Aaron Favila, Associated Press.
Newlyweds share a kiss as guests cheer. The couple have been together for ten years. According to Verdillo, “This is just one of the struggles that we’ve overcome.” Malolos, Bulacan province, Philippines, 22 July 2025.
Title: Wedding in the Flood. © Aaron Favila, Associated Press. Newlyweds share a kiss as guests cheer. The couple have been together for ten years. According to Verdillo, “This is just one of the struggles that we’ve overcome.” Malolos, Bulacan province, Philippines, 22 July 2025.

The World Press Photo Exhibition 2026 is returning to the State Library of New South Wales from 6 June to 19 July, offering Sydney audiences an uncompromising view of of the unending challenges that humans, and our planet face.

The exhibition reveals the results from the 69th World Press Photo Contest, where the 42 winners were chosen by a jury of 31 professionals that reviewed more than 57,376 photographs entered by 3,747 photographers from 141 countries.

Since its inception in 1955, when a group of Dutch photographers organised an international contest in Amsterdam, World Press Photo has grown into the world’s most prestigious benchmark for visual journalism. Decades later, its core mission remains unchanged: to champion high-quality photojournalism and defend the freedom of the press.

The resulting collection is a powerful reflection of the complexities of our current world, capturing everything from the escalating climate crisis and political upheaval to the deep human cost of modern conflict.

Upcoming Events Submit an Event

February

Canberra: Until 6 Sept 2026. Trent Parke’s photographic series The Christmas tree bucket 2006–09 is a tender and darkly humorous portrayal of his extended family coming together to celebrate Christmas.

March

Sydney: Until 7 Feb 2027. From his archive of more than 200,000 images, Close Up celebrates the historic moments and pivotal people he famously captured.

Melbourne: 5 March – 7 August 2026. Between the mid-1970s and early 1990s, artist and social documentary photographer Viva Gibb (1945-2017) documented the suburbs of North and West Melbourne, where she lived.

May

Sydney: Until 16 August 2026. PIX, Australia’s first pictorial news weekly, is brought to life in this exhibition, showcasing its archived images and stories for the very first time.

Melbourne: Until March 2027. Rehearsing the City presents archival photographs from Victoria’s government collections, alongside new work by contemporary street photographers.

Coffs Harbour: 28 May – 29 June 2026. West Of Somewhere East is a photographic series tracing a cinematic journey through the interior of New South Wales, shaped by long drives, fleeting encounters, and the reflective rhythm of return.

June

Melbourne: 6 June – 20 August 2026. Brook Andrew is an artist whose conceptual practice shifts across photography, performance, moving image, installation, public space and research, often through deep collaboration with artists, communities and friends.

Melbourne: 6 June – 28 June 2-26. We Built a House Out of Water is a deeply personal body of work that draws on memory, family, and culture – while understanding healing as an ongoing process.

Melbourne: 26 June – 2 August. Through analogue photographic processes, Dylan Negri aims to immortalised fragments of life that would otherwise disintegrate.