For more than fifty years an international jury has met in Holland under the auspices of the World Press Photo Foundation to choose the world's finest photographs. This is universally recognized as the definitive competition for photographic reporting, and photojournalists, newspapers, and magazines throughout the world submit thousands of images in the race to win. The World Press Photo Competition 2004, the forty-seventh contest to date, brings together some 200 images. The best pictorial journalism from an eventful year, this selection brings us face to face with contemporary world events--an impressive visual record of social, political, cultural, scientific, and, above all, human milestones.