World Press Photo would like to invite African press photographers and photojournalists to participate in the 2009 World Press Photo contest.

World Press Photo is an independent non-profit organization that was founded in the Netherlands in 1955. Its primary goal is to create international support and attention for professional press photographers.

In order to achieve this goal, World Press Photo organizes an annual, international photography contest that has become one of the largest contests in the field of press photography.

In the 2008 World Press Photo contest, 80536 images were submitted by 5019 photographers from 125 countries.

Among the winners of the 2008 World Press Photo contest was the Zimbabwean photographer Bold Hungwe, who received the 2nd prize for singles in the category Spot News, as well as the South African Brent Stirton, who won the 1st prize for singles in the category Contemporary Issues.

All contest information in 9 languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish) is now available on: www.worldpressphoto.org/contest

Images may be submitted as single pictures or stories/portfolios in ten categories: Spot News, General News, People in the News, Sports Action, Sports Feature, Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, Portraits, Arts and Entertainment and Nature.

The deadline for entries to the 2009 World Press Photo contest is 15 January 2009.

If you have further questions, please send an email to: contest@worldpressphoto.org