Tony Blair on the campaign trail

The photographs - marking the most powerful, disturbing and moving stories of the last year - can be seen at the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank.

Selected by an international jury from more than 36,000 images from 115 countries, the World Press Photo competition is one of the most prestigious annual press photography contests in the world.

Documenting the world's major news events, the pictures making up the exhibition range from emotive images of war to Tony Blair's election campaign, Dolly the cloned sheep and gay rodeos in the United States.

Photos of Gloria won the Children's Award

A photograph of a grief-stricken Algerian woman taken by Algerian photographer Hocine - whose full name is withheld to protect his identity - shortly after the massacre in Bentalha has been chosen as World Press Photo of the Year 1997.

The picture was described by the jury as "a masterful, painterly image of great skill and vision" which highlights the human suffering of war.

Susan Watts' pictures showing the daily life of Gloria, a prostitute and drug addict in the Bronx, won the World Press Photo Children's Award - a prize that was established in 1983 and is judged by an international panel of children.

The exhibition can be seen from 5 to 29 November.