By Ellen Boonstra, Business Acumen’s Asia correspondent >>

FOR MORE THAN SEVEN decades, World Press Photo has defined a global standard for photojournalism, bringing together the stories that shape each year and displaying them around the world. For the next few months, World Press Photo exhibitions can be seen in Australian towns and cities.

Founded in 1955 in the Netherlands, the annual contest has become one of the world’s most influential platforms for documentary photography, attracting thousands of submissions worldwide.

Each edition presents not only major news events, but also how they are experienced on a human level, beyond statistics and headlines.

This year’s competition drew more than 57,000 entries from nearly 3,800 photographers across 141 countries. Together, the images offer a powerful snapshot of a year shaped by political tension, ongoing conflict and social change, from the war in Ukraine and the crisis in Gaza to immigration policy in the US..

World Press Photo executive director Joumana El Zein Khoury described 2025 as “an overwhelming year”, noting the difficulty of processing its scale and complexity for both photographers and audiences.

Photographers typically submit work in December and January, after which regional juries review entries across six geographic areas, including Asia Pacific and Oceania.

The aim is to strengthen contextual understanding and increase global representation, while giving more visibility to locally rooted storytelling.

Stories of power, displacement and survival

This year’s Photo of the Year, Separated by ICE by Carol Guzy, highlights the human consequences of immigration enforcement in the US. 

Taken inside a federal building in New York, the photograph shows a father being taken into custody following an immigration court hearing while his wife and children remain behind in visible distress. The stark institutional setting contrasts with the emotional intensity of the moment.

Guzy and a small group of photographers were granted limited access to document the proceedings, returning multiple times. The resulting work reflects not only a single encounter, but also a broader system and its impact on families.

The ongoing crisis in Gaza is reflected in several finalist images, including Aid Emergency in Gaza by Saber Nuraldin, which shows people scrambling onto a truck carrying humanitarian supplies.

In contrast, The Trials of the Achi Women by Victor J. Blue (below) presents a quieter moment of legal resolution for Indigenous women in Guatemala City, focusing on dignity and endurance rather than conflict itself.

A wider lens on global change

Together, the selection points to a broader shift in focus across this year’s contest, with photographs centred less on events alone and more on lived experience.

Global jury chair Kira Pollack noted the range of approaches, from breaking news photography to long-term documentary work, unified by an effort to reveal stories that might otherwise go unseen.

The regional judging system is particularly visible in Asia Pacific, where participation continues to grow. The region’s selections span environmental change, cultural tradition and scientific collaboration, including a rare camera-trap image of a wild panda captured after years of fieldwork.

Climate and everyday resilience

One of the most striking winning images is Bondi Beach Terror Attack by Edwina Pickles of The Sydney Morning Herald (below).

Taken in the aftermath of an attack during the Chanukah by the Sea event in Sydney, the photograph shows an emotionally overwhelmed police officer near the bodies of victims Boris and Sofia Gurman. The image was recognised for its emotional intensity and its powerful depiction of both chaos and human cost.

Australia is also represented in The Last Dolphin Hunters, a project by Australian photographer Matthew Abbott, working with Oculi for The New York Times.

The work explores traditional dolphin hunting practices in Indonesia and the complex relationship between coastal communities and the sea, where subsistence, cultural tradition and ethical debate intersect. It stands out for its restrained yet confronting perspective on a practice that remains at the centre of global conversations around conservation, heritage and survival.

In Wedding in the Flood, Aaron Favila shows a couple continuing their ceremony in rising floodwaters in the Philippines, while A Desperate Plea by Tyrone Siu captures a moment of personal loss during a building fire in Hong Kong.

 On tour in Australia

Following the announcement of the winners, the images have been travelling as part of a global exhibition, which began in Amsterdam and is continuing to more than 60 cities worldwide, most recently at the Brisbane Powerhouse in June and now in Sydney at the State Library of NSW until July 19; Ballarat is the location for regional Victoria’s first showing of the contest from August 8 to September 20, hosted by the Art Gallery of Ballarat at the Mining Exchange.

Writer Ellen Boonstra is Business Acumen magazine’s roaming Asia correspondent.

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By Jonathan Walsh >>

ONCE YOU’VE SET UP a marketing workflow for new orders, you’d think the hardest part is done – now all you have to do is wait for customers to purchase, and let the system automate the communications for you. But recent Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) fines mean this isn’t the case.

Lululemon made headlines earlier this year after receiving a hefty $702,000 fine for emails it sent over the 2024 Christmas holiday period. These were regular service emails, like order confirmations and shipping updates, but the emails contained sales material and promotional links without the option to opt-out. 

The lack of an opt-out combined with the messages being deemed as ‘commercial’ in nature resulted in the company being fined by ACMA. 

It’s a warning to retailers. Compliance matters, and if you’re not vetting your marketing communications closely, you could be putting your own business at risk. 

The hidden cost of a hidden upsell 

Under pressure to maximise sales and total cart value, the line between transactional updates and product pushes is blurring. If you know your customer is more likely to open a specific email – for example, one telling them their order has been shipped – it’s tempting to make use of that touchpoint to add in some promotional messaging too. 

But this latest ACMA ruling highlights that tagging on some commercial content onto the end of an informative email might not be as harmless as you think. 

In Lululemon’s case, the problematic emails didn’t mention any other products specifically. But the bottom of order confirmation emails had buttons with ‘shop women’s’, ‘shop men’s’, and ‘shop accessories’ –  with each linking back to that specific product category. 

And the footnote of each email had links back to ‘women’s’ and ‘men’s’ sections. 

In ACMA’s eyes, these additions – though small – meant that the email was considered commercial, rather than as informative or service messages. 

For commerce teams, the key takeaway here is that using your customer communications messages for more than one purpose doesn’t just dilute what you’re trying to say, but could also be putting you under regulatory scrutiny. 

Compliance matters even more for global brands

A transactional email’s primary purpose is exactly that – to facilitate a transaction. As soon as you add ‘you might also like…’ or a banner advertising a spring sale, the legal classification shifts. It becomes commercial. 

Global brands also have to consider how regulations differ in other regions. In the EU, for example, GDPR requires explicit opt-in consent and easy opt-out options. 

UK mobile network provider EE was previously fined £100,000 for sending more than 2.5 million messages to customers who had not agreed to marketing communications. 

CAN-SPAM in the US is even more severe, with individual emails in breach of the rules subject to penalties of up to $53,000. So any non-compliance results in a very expensive marketing campaign. 

The fines being handed out by regulators aren’t just a slap on the wrist – ACMA fines in recent years have exceeded A$1 million. 

With the market under increased regulatory scrutiny, businesses shouldn’t delay reviewing their comms in light of the rulings. You might fly under ACMA’s radar, but the time it takes to audit your comms is much smaller than the impact of an investigation. 

Tips to get your workflow compliant

Start by considering what the primary purpose of the message is. Is it commercial or is it designed to be informative?

Ensure that there aren’t any overlaps – if the message is supposed to be telling the customer something important, the message shouldn’t be lost in promotional content. 

The easiest way to comply with ACMA ruling (and the rulings in other regions) is to keep informative or service messages completely separate from any promotional content. 

The other key element to confirm is whether your promotional emails have a clear opt-out. This is mandatory for messages that contain anything remotely salesy. 

As the Lululemon example highlights, that doesn’t just mean product recommendations – even generic shopping links back to your site count. 

Best practices beyond compliance

Sustainable growth requires more than just mass-fired promotional emails. 

Instead, the best way for brands to build trusted relationships with their customers is with personalised multi-channel communications that respect consumer preferences and offer value without breaching privacy regulations. 

One question retailers can ask themselves is if they’ve become over-reliant on sending emails, rather than using a mix of communication methods. 

Diversifying can help to improve open rates and customer experience by letting them be contacted on the channels they prefer. You can also allocate different channels to specific message types. 

For example, if you need to send a notification that a home delivery is expected in the next hour, SMS or WhatsApp might be a better option than email, since texts are more likely to be opened quickly. That’s especially true for users who predominantly browse and buy through mobile devices. 

With tools like WhatsApp, you can also enable two-way communication within the same chat – so in the event the customer does have a problem, there’s an easy thread for them to pick up, without worrying that they’re sending an email to an unmonitored inbox. 

Separating out messages by channel means customers can immediately see time-sensitive updates – like a delivery alert – that require them to take action. Meanwhile, email can remain a powerful medium for storytelling and commercial content, offering a low-pressure space for consumers to explore and engage with whenever they’re ready. 

A unified platform can help 

Customers today have high expectations. That means smooth, multi-channel experiences need to become the norm, not an exception. 

But that’s easier said than done. Trying to manage marketing campaigns across SMS, WhatsApp and email can be tricky. Vital customer information can be recorded on one platform but not brought across to another, leading to fragmentation and potentially dangerous compliance gaps. 

The customer’s personal experience is put at risk too – they might be accidentally added into duplicate campaigns across channels, or have their complaint lost and left unaddressed in an unmonitored inbox. 

You can’t deliver the service modern customers expect with a jumbled collection of apps and software. The best way forward is with a single unified comms platform. 

This acts as a single source of truth, allowing customer records to be updated in real-time regardless of the channel used. In the event a customer makes a complaint by email, and then follows up by WhatsApp, it means the company can see the whole chain of events without having to ask the customer “can you explain why you’ve contacted us today?” every time they get passed to a new agent. 

It also means that you can adapt your comms flexibly to suit the customer’s preferences and the type of message – like sending a text notification for an imminent delivery rather than an email. 

Taking a unified approach helps to solidify customer data and make it easier to offer personalised experiences without taking hours of manual admin. It’s also a great futureproofing strategy, ensuring that your comms are scalable without losing messaging quality or consistency. 

Double-check before you hit send 

Businesses shouldn’t get complacent. Just because your email workflow was compliant once, it doesn’t mean that it still is. Regulations are evolving constantly, and if you’re selling into global markets, you’ve got even more to keep on top of. 

ACMA’s recent fines are a reminder for all businesses to check that your marketing campaigns are compliant, and the time to check them is now. 

Compliance isn’t a barrier to sales, but it’s a foundation for a good brand-customer relationship. A $700k fine could buy a lot of legitimate marketing efforts – don’t waste it on a non-compliant email. 

www.esendex.com.au

About the author

Jonathan Walsh is the managing director of Esendex Australia, part of the global Esendex group that has been at the forefront of communications technology for more than 25 years. Esendex has been known as a ‘challenger brand’ from its formation and today carries forward its spirit of agility and innovation – and that drive is matched by the company’s unwavering commitment to security, compliance and resilience. About 46,000 business customers worldwide use the Esendex platform and APIs to deliver timely, engaging and cost-effective SMS, RCS, email, WhatsApp and voice communications.

ENDS

THE Walkley Foundation for Excellence in Journalism has announced the appointment of five new board directors, as well as five replacement members of its Walkley Judging Board.

These appointments bring fresh and exciting expertise and perspectives to the foundation, and include Bridget Brennan, Nadine Garner, Nour Haydar and David Ross, who join the foundation’s board of directors, alongside new Walkley Judging Board chair Ben Butler.

Journalists Mike Amor, John Paul Janke, Nick Miller, Kirsty Needham and Hugh Riminton also join the cohort of 10 senior journalists who are currently serving on the Walkley Judging Board.  

The foundation’s full board of directors is now: Michael Slezak, Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) media federal president; Kasun Ubayasiri, MEAA media vice president; Bridget Brennan, Ben Butler, Nadine Garner, Nour Haydar and David Ross.

MEAA vice president (media) Bianca Hall, who has served as a director since March 2025 will step down from that role, after helping lead significant reforms. The Walkley foundation has thanked Ms Hall for her thoughtful contribution to the board and looks forward to her continued involvement as a member of the company.

NEW DIRECTORS

Bridget Brennan is a Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung woman and co-host of News Breakfast on the ABC. An award-winning journalist and former foreign correspondent, she helped establish the ABC’s first Indigenous Affairs Reporting Team and has spent her career focusing on the stories of women and children.

Nadine Garner is one of Australia’s most celebrated screen and stage performers, with a career spanning more than 40 years across all major companies and platforms. A Logie, Helpmann, AFI and Green Room Award winner, Ms Garner brings to the board a deep commitment to Australian storytelling and is a fierce advocate for the support and funding of Australian creative work.

Nour Haydar is host and senior producer of Guardian Australia’s award-winning daily news podcast Full Story. A former federal political reporter in the Canberra press gallery, she covered national politics for the ABC from Parliament House across television, radio and digital platforms including News Breakfast and Afternoon Briefing. Ms Haydar is committed to improving media coverage and reporting practices around gender-based and state-sanctioned violence.

David Ross is a journalist at The Australian covering business and finance, and he has reported on some of Australia’s biggest commercial stories. Before joining The Australian he worked as a freelance journalist writing for local and international publications and at the European Parliament in Brussels. He is a passionate believer in the power of good journalism to inform and engage the public.

NEW JUDGING BOARD CHAIR

Ben Butler is a senior investigative journalist who has worked at newsrooms across Australia, including the ABC, Guardian Australia, the Herald Sun, The Age and The Australian, specialising in the intersection of business and crime.
Investigations he has worked on include exposing the Commonwealth Bank for ripping off term deposit customers, revealing the complex financial engineering used by the owner of the collapsed ‘sorry business insurer’ Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund, as well as the involvement of rich Australians in offshore tax schemes laid out in the Pandora Papers. 
Mr Butler has won two Walkley Awards at last year’s 70th gala event as part of a team reporting on Australia’s childcare crisis, three Melbourne Press Club Quills, two Kennedy Awards and a Citi Award.

NEW JUDGING BOARD MEMBERS

Mike Amor is one of Australia’s most experienced broadcast journalists and is currently a presenter for Channel Seven Melbourne’s new service, having returned to Australia after 18 years as the network’s United States Bureau Chief.

John Paul Janke is from Wuthathi Country on Eastern Cape York Peninsula and from Mer (Murray) Island in Zenadth Kes (the Torres Strait). He is the national Indigenous affairs editor at SBS and NITV and in his ninth season as the host of the channel’s flagship Indigenous news and current affairs show The Point. He has also been an ABC Radio presenter on ABC 666 Canberra and has regular appearances on Insiders (ABC).

Nick Miller is live news editor (mornings) at Guardian Australia. Previous roles include seven years based in the UK as Europe correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, freelance news and features writer and production editor based in New York and arts editor, health editor and state news editor at The Age.

Kirsty Needham is Australia and Pacific Islands correspondent for global news agency Agence France-Presse. Among past roles she was China correspondent in Beijing for the Fairfax newspapers, and won the Walkley Award for Scoop of the Year in 2022, for her reporting on China’s push for Pacific security deals, as a Reuters correspondent.

Hugh Riminton is a two-time Walkley winner with more than 40 years as an interviewer, foreign correspondent, political editor and presenter. He has reported from the frontlines of conflicts in some 50 countries, for the Nine Network, CNN and Ten. 

Ben Butler and the five new members join the current Judging Board which consists of:

Christine Ahern, Nine; Gay Alcorn, Good Weekend Magazine; Tom Dusevic, The Australian; Richard Guilliatt, freelance journalist and author; Julie Lewis, The Sydney Morning Herald; Claire Mackay, ABC; Greg Muller, ABC; Jake Nowakowski, photojournalist, Herald Sun; Melanie Petrinec, The Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail; and Paul Williams, SBS.

www.walkleys.com

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