Assignments 2024 | The BPPA Exhibition ON TOUR

France's Caroline Garcia dives in an attempt to return the ball to Czech Republic's Marie Bouzkova during their women's singles tennis match on the fifth day of the 2023 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 7, 2023.France's Caroline Garcia dives in an attempt to return the ball to Czech Republic's Marie Bouzkova during their women's singles tennis match on the fifth day of the 2023 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 7, 2023. Photo - Adrian Dennis / AFP)

The best of British press photography has come to Port Sunlight in a new exhibition.

The British Press Photographers’ Association are bringing their annual exhibition, ‘Assignments 2024 – The BPPA Exhibition’, to the beautiful Bridge Cottage within historic Port Sunlight. It is the first time the exhibition has been presented in Merseyside and follows a successful showcase in London’s Southbank.

The exhibition is a showcase of the best 100 photographs from members of The BPPA, celebrating the best of press photography. Over the summer, a changing display of 50 photographs will take over Bridge Cottage, one of Port Sunlight’s most distinctive Arts and Crafts-style houses. The exhibition is presented in partnership with Port Sunlight Village Trust, the independent charity responsible for preserving and promoting the village.

Curated by five leading industry figures, this year’s exhibition covers stories from March 2023 through to the spring of 2024 and will feature everything from sports and entertainment through to politics and protest with royals, celebrities, and global events as seen through the eyes of the association’s photographers.

Founded in the mid-1980s, The BPPA has sought to promote and inspire the highest ethical, technical, and creative standards from within the industry, and once again is set to deliver an exhibition of photographs from the cutting edge of journalism.

Thanks to the support of Canon UK, Assignments 2024 is FREE to attend, with donations to Port Sunlight Village Trust welcome.

This year’s curators were photojournalist David Burnett, Reuters UK and Ireland Chief Photographer Suzanne Plunkett, photojournalist Steve Back, Press Association photographer Jane Barlow, and Getty Images sports photographer Justin Setterfield.

  • Assignments 2024 is FREE to attend.
  • The address is 10 Bridge St, Birkenhead, Wirral CH62 4UP
  • It’s open between Wednesday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm, between 8th June and 1st September 2024.

Assignments 2024 | The BPPA Exhibition opens in London

Photo: ©Elliott Franks

The British Press Photographers’ Association presents its annual ‘Assignments’ exhibition celebrating the best of press photography from its members.

Curated by five leading industry figures, this year’s exhibition covers stories from March 2023 through to the spring of 2024 and will feature everything from sports and entertainment to politics and protests with royals, celebrities, and global events as seen through the eyes of the association’s photographers.

Founded in the mid-1980s, The BPPA has sought to promote and inspire the highest ethical, technical, and creative standards from within the industry and once again is set to deliver an exhibition of photographs from the cutting edge of journalism.

  • Assignments 2024 is FREE to attend.
  • Open from 11am to 6pm daily between 24th May and 2nd June 2024.
  • Covers 5 floors of The Bargehouse on London’s Southbank, part of Oxo Tower Wharf.
  • Once again the BPPA bookshop will return during the exhibition.

The Bargehouse can be found on Google Maps here , you can use the post code SE1 9PH or on What3Words the location is lovely.spirit.voted

ASSIGNMENTS 2024 – THE CURATORS

We are delighted to reveal our panel of curators for Assignments 2024: The BPPA Exhibition will be David Burnett, Suzanne Plunkett, Steve Back, Jane Barlow and Justin Setterfield. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our curators for being involved in this project and feel they are a true reflection of the industry in 2024. We look forward to seeing their final selections in London and Wirral later this year.

 

David Burnett

David Burnett (born Salt Lake City, Utah 1946) learned photography at the Olympus High School yearbook, and later shot pictures for the yearbook (mostly sports) at Colorado College (BA Poli Sci ’68.)  His career as a rocket scientist was thwarted by a not-to-be-named math professor who mumbled during Calculus class.   He began working as a freelancer for Time, and later LIFE magazine in the late 1960s, spending two years covering the war in Vietnam.   Following the demise of LIFE Magazine weekly in 1972, he joined the French photo agency Gamma and traveled the world for them before subsequently founding Contact Press Images, in New York in 1975.  His work for news magazines in Europe and the US has included politics, sports, and portraiture as well as the news.  He has covered every Summer Olympic Games since 1984, as well as the 2002, 2014, and 2018 Winter Games, and photographed every American President since John F Kennedy. His awards include ‘Magazine Photographer of the Year’ from the Pictures of the Year Competition, the ‘World Press Photo of the Year’, and the Robert Capa Gold Medal from the Overseas Press Club. He has produced photographic essays for Time, Fortune, GEO, Paris-Match and ESPN Magazine.  He served on the World Press Photo Jury in 1997, 1999, and chaired the Jury in 2011. In 2018 he was awarded the Sprague Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Press Photographers Association.   He is the author of three photographic books: “Soul Rebel – An Intimate Portrait of Bob Marley”,   “44 Days : Iran and the Remaking of the World,” pictures taken during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the recently published “l’Homme Sans Gravité”  (“Man Without Gravity”)  a collection of five decades of sports pictures.

Suzanne Plunkett

Suzanne Plunkett is a veteran photojournalist who has worked as a staff photographer for the Associated Press in New York where she took one of the iconic photographs of the attacks at the U.S. World Trade on September 11, 2001. From 2003-2005, as Chief Photographer for the AP in Indonesia, Suzanne managed a team of five Jakarta-based photographers and a large network of freelancers following the Bali Bombings and during the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Suzanne worked as Bloomberg’s UK senior photographer before joining Reuters as a staff photographer in London for seven years, where she covered the 2012 Olympics, the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, London Fashion Week, one royal wedding (Will and Kate), two royal births (George and Charlotte) and spent many rainy days outside Downing Street and rainy evenings covering Premier League matches. Suzanne left Reuters in 2015 to teach and to freelance in London for clients that included the New York Times and CNN. She founded the UK chapter of Women Photograph – an organization that works to mentor and support the work of women and nonbinary visual journalists. Suzanne returned to Reuters last year and took on the role of chief photographer for the UK and Ireland.

Steve Back

Steve Back has spent 54 years in the business, including 30 years as a staff and freelance photographer on the Daily Mail. He can now be found most weeks on Downing Street covering politics. Steve said “It’s been an amazing journey which thankfully is still not over! Best job in the world.”

Jane Barlow

Jane Barlow has been a professional press photographer for over 20 years. After working for local papers and agencies including seven years with The Scotsman, Jane joined the Press Association in 2016 as a staff photographer covering news, politics, sport and features across Scotland and sometimes beyond.

Justin Setterfield

Justin Setterfield is a sports photographer for Getty Images covering events around the world with a focus on Football. He recently won the SJA Sports Photographer of the Year and SJA 2023 Football Portfolio awards.

ASSIGNMENTS 2024 – NOW OPEN

The British Press Photographers’ Association is pleased to announce that ASSIGNMENTS 2024 is now open for entries. The BPPA Exhibition will return to London’s Bargehouse on the Southbank in May 2024.
We can also now reveal that the touring leg of ASSIGNMENTS 2024 will be moving from Wales to The Wirral! Following its 10 day showcase in London the exhibition will travel to Port Sunlight in Wirral where it will be on display for 12 weeks. We are once again seeking the best of British Press Photography from our members.
  • Entries are open NOW until midnight on Friday 5th April 2024.
  • Each member can enter up to 10 photographs taken between 11th March 2023 and 5th April 2024 (inclusive).
  • You must be a full member of The BPPA to enter – if you aren’t you can join now.
  • Thanks to our generous sponsors at Canon UK it is FREE to enter although entrants whose work is selected will be asked to pay a fee of £50 per picture towards the cost of framing (capped at £100 max). Once the exhibition tour is complete, if you wish to keep your framed print there will be an opportunity to collect it.
  • Entries will be selected anonymously by a panel of curators drawn from across the industry.