In many respects it was a less dramatic news year than the past several, not only on the Czech front but also internationally. The local press corps is increasingly jetting across the globe to cover big international stories, from the political protests in Hungary to the Israeli-Lebanese conflict. But there were also plenty of local happenings for it to seize upon.

The recipient of the Crystal Eye award, the jury's choice for Photo of the Year, is a silhouette of seated figures huddled in negotiations. Titled "What Next: A Meeting of Leading Politicians After the Elections," shot by Michal Čížek for news agency Agence France-Presse, it sums up in one stark image the long-running political shadow play and behind-the-scenes deal-making that followed the Czech national elections in June.

Another prize-winning series by Čížek is a black-and-white portrait series of Romany, or Gypsy, women who underwent involuntary sterilization. In a practice common under the communists, these women, illiterate and usually from the poorest regions of the country, signed documents authorizing the operation without being able to read what they were signing. The anger, grief and resignation expressed in their eyes are not only a condemnation of the doctors, but of the social culture that allows the practice to continue to this day.

One act in last year's Czech political theater of the absurd is played out in a series of pictures, taken in narrative succession, that capture the infamous "facka od Macka" — the slap upside the head of then-Health Minister David Rath by Miroslav Macek, former deputy chairman of the Civic Democratic Party, ostensibly in retaliation for a past insult Rath directed toward Macek's wife. The altercation, which took place at the annual meeting of the Czech Stomatological Chamber, was captured by Jan Schejbal shooting for Týden/Instinkt/Nedělní svět and won second prize in the Spot News category.

Not really a news event per se, the 70th birthday of former President Václav Havel did get a lot of local press play, and receives a nice tribute here in a series of black-and-white pictures by freelance photographer Oldřich Škácha. The photos portray Havel in public and private moments from 1988 through 2006. Škácha has documented Havel since the 1960s, and the long-running relationship with his subject yields an intimate insider's view of the absurdist playwright-president.

Directly across from the Havel series, a group of black-and-white photos of Civic Democratic Party Chairman Mirek Topolánek offers a contrast between the very different political styles of the new prime minister and the former president. The Topolánek series, by noted photographer Karel Cudlín, was shot in the run-up to the election and shows a buoyant, self-assured politician. One particular picture embodies the Czech propensity for irony. Those who regularly follow Czech political news will recall that images of Topolánek smiling in unity with his wife, Pavla Topolánková, were soon overshadowed by another of the year's personal-cum-political dramas. Topolánková briefly stole the limelight from her husband when she announced her candidacy for the Senate with a rival political party, allegedly in retaliation for her husband's extramarital affair with a colleague.

While the lower floor of Old Town Hall is dominated by news, the upstairs gallery is home to feature-story categories including Science and Nature, Art and Sports.

The 2006 Winter Olympics dominates the Sports category. While first prize went to Joe Klamar for his series of ski-jumpers in mid-flight, a more emotion-filled image shows a little girl in a pink winter jacket running across the snow to her triumphant and exhausted mommy, Czech ski champion Kateřina Neumannová, after her gold-medal win in Turin.

The standout in the Art category documents a gathering of little girls primped and decked out in frilly pastel dresses for the Miss Barbie 2006 pageant at a Prague shopping mall. Tomáš Krest best points up the absurdity of such events — little girls dressed for success with their chic mothers hovering anxiously nearby — in two images. One shows a dolled-up contestant with tears streaming down her made-up face, while another portrays a pastel-gowned hopeful indelicately picking her nose.