HKBU to host the withdrawn World Press Photo 2020 in March

The Institute for Journalism and Society at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) will be hosting the World Press Photo 2020 exhibition in Hong Kong this March, the World Press Photo Foundation announced yesterday.
The exhibition was subject to difficulties when it was suddenly ended without any notice or justification last October after being held in Macau for just one week, 18 days earlier than expected.
The grounds of the shutdown were allegedly political, as a series of awarded photos depicting the scenes of social unrest, protests, and confrontation between Hong Kong citizens and the authorities were on display.
When the exhibition was launched in Macau, the region was the only city in the Chinese territory to host it.
Speculation that Macau would not display the “sensitive” images at the World Press Photo event in the SAR were proven to be incorrect, with the organizers following the international standards for the worldwide display of photography.
Senior Lecturer and Director of International Journalism at the Journalism Department of HKBU, Robin Ewing, confirmed to the Times that the exhibition, which is to be hosted at the Koo Ming Kown Exhibition Gallery from March 1 to March 21 this year, will not undergo any changes and will feature all the winning photojournalism works.
“The Institute for Journalism and Society, part of the Journalism Department at Hong Kong Baptist University is hosting the World Press Photo Exhibition 2020 in March. We have made no adjustments to the exhibition, and it will include all of the winning photos as well as the winning photo interactive [display],” Ewing replied to the Times, adding, “We are aware of the early closure of the exhibit in Macau, but we trust that Hong Kong’s law guaranteeing freedom of the press will continue to be respected.”
In a previous statement to the Times, the World Press Photo Foundation, which is responsible for the worldwide contest and exhibitions, said they were not excluding the possibility of other Chinese cities joining the exhibition program at a later stage – something which has now been confirmed with the exhibition being held in Hong Kong.
“Regarding exhibitions in China, we are in talks with exhibition partners and hope to confirm new locations soon,” the foundation said last year.
Several Chinese cities and topics involving the country and its people were involved in the 2020 exhibition.
According to data from the organizers, China is one of the top three countries of origin from which photographers submit their work to the annual contest, making it an important part of the photojournalism scene.