SINGAPORE - The annual World Press Photo exhibition, hailed as the 'Oscars' of photojournalism, will be returning to Singapore next month.

The free exhibition, which brings together some 140 award-winning photographs from around the world, will be held at the Raffles Hotel from Jan 10 to Feb 1 next year.

The winning shots were selected from 98,671 entries submitted by 5,754 photographers of 132 different nationalities.

The year-long exhibition will tour more than 100 cities in more than 45 countries.

This will be the fourth time that the exhibition has been held in Singapore, having been organised here in 2002, 2006, as well as earlier this year.

Mr Patrick Daniel, editor-in-chief of the English and Malay Newspapers Division of Singapore Press Holdings, said the exhibition would be "a tribute to the photojournalists who work tirelessly and bravely to make us all more aware of what's happening around the world - at times risking their lives to bring us compelling photos".