Anadolu Agency’s international news photography contest, Istanbul Photo Awards, has started accepting applications for its 2022 iteration. The applications will remain open until Feb. 15.

Now in its eighth year, the Istanbul Photo Awards aim to honor and support press photographers for their professional dedication. The competition is recognized as one of the world’s top photography contests. Along with many staff photographers, a sizeable number of freelance journalists also enter the contest.

Only professional photographers can enter the contest, using photos of events that made headlines worldwide in 2021. Entries are being accepted in seven categories: Single News, Story News, Single Sports, Story Sports, Single Nature and Environment, Canon Story Daily Life and Story Portrait.

Applications will be open to all published and unpublished works from all over the world. The contest jury, featuring star-studded figures from the photography world, will award the best photos in March.

Terms and conditions for applications can be found at the contest website. Entries will be evaluated based on multiple factors such as technique, perspective, movement and feeling.

The Photo of the Year award will be given to the photograph that is first in the Single News category, and the photographer will be awarded $6,000.

The first-place winners in each category will be awarded $3,000, the second-place winners $1,500 and the third-place winners $1,000. The Story Daily Life and Story Portrait categories will have first place winners exclusively.

This year, three awards will be given in the Single Nature and Environment category, featuring works in the field of the environment, one of the world’s most pressing issues.

Besides cash prizes, first prize winners this year will win a Canon camera, while a Canon EOS R3 will be given to single news and story sports winners and in other categories winners will received a Canon EOS R5.

The contest, which attracts thousands of applications every year, is supported by Canon, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and Turkish Airlines.