AWF, NBP BEST PHOTOGRAPHY BENJAMIN MKAPA AFRICAN WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2022 CALL FOR ENTRIES

NAIROBI, KENYA AND WASHINGTON D.C., U.S., March 3, 2022 - World Wildlife Day: Building on the success of the first Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards in 2021, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and Nature's Best Photography (NBP) have officially opened applications for the coveted annual award's 2022 edition.

Participants in the competition will have from March 3 to June 1, 2022 to submit images for consideration by a team of world-class judges and conservationists.

Photographers of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of photography expertise from Africa and throughout the world are welcome to compete. The results for 2022 will be disclosed at the second awards ceremony and exhibition, which will take place on October 27, 2022, at the Nairobi National Museum in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Mkapa Awards are established in honor of the late, renowned African leader and former Tanzanian President, H.E. Benjamin Mkapa, for his devotion to conservation education throughout Africa, as well as his enthusiastic support of AWF projects.

Former First Lady of the Republic of Tanzania and widow to the late H.E. Benjamin Mkapa, Mrs. Anna Mkapa said, "It is an honor to see this great competition enter its second edition. It gives me great pride to be associated with an African name that will transcend the hands of time because of the integrity and passion exhibited by my late husband.”

She added, “The Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards are a true embodiment of what the late Mzee would have loved to see in every African. I would therefore like to wish all the potential entrants the best of luck as they put their talents to good use, and I look forward to announcing the winners later this year! Let us continue to make Mzee proud!"

“Bringing Africa to the World, and the World to Africa” defines this global competition, geared towards developing new, multi-media platforms that engage and involve Africans and those traveling to Africa in a blended narrative of conservation and visual storytelling.

“In alignment with our 60th Anniversary celebration at AWF, we are proud to open the 2022 Benjamin Mkapa Awards competition on World Wildlife Day as it represents such vital storytelling and conservation- driven initiatives throughout the continent,” said AWF Senior Vice President and program co-founder Craig Sholley.

Speaking from the inaugural Awards event last year in Nairobi, Kenya, AWF CEO Kaddu Sebunya said, “One of African Wildlife Foundation’s primary goals for the next decade is to inspire, foster, and support African conservation leadership and engagement. This goal could not be more vital. In developing the Mkapa Awards concept, we knew that an annual global photo competition that spoke to youth and Africa’s specific conservation challenges would resonate far beyond the contest at hand.”

In keeping with AWF's mission to ensure that wildlife and wild lands thrive in modern Africa, and Nature's Best's initiative to showcase the beauty, diversity, and importance of wild Africa, our collaborative goals are to attract photographers of all levels of expertise, while encouraging young talent to become advocates for generational behavioral change toward wildlife conservation.

This extraordinary set of work will have an immediate and long-term influence on public knowledge and care of Africa's wild places.

The Mkapa Photographer of the Year will receive a $5,000 USD grand prize, a stone elephant sculpture, and an interview in Nature's Best Photography magazine's 100-page Special Edition dedicated to the Mkapa Photography Awards. Furthermore, category Winners will each get $1,000 USD, a stone elephant sculpture, and will be published in the Special Edition with chosen Highly Honored pictures.

All winning photographs and movies will be shown in the Nairobi National Museum in Kenya, as well as other locations in Africa and the United States.

Zander Galli, the 2021 Mkapa Awards Youth International winner, said, “I recently received the Mkapa award sculpture — it’s absolutely stunning! What a remarkable piece of art and such an inspiring story behind it. These opportunities still feel like a dream, and I truly can’t thank you enough for this stage to share my work and help motivate conservation action!”  

The competition will enhance the visibility of African wildlife through the following categories: African Conservation Heroes, Coexistence and Conflict, African Wildlife at Risk, Fragile Wilderness, African Wildlife Behavior, African Wildlife Portraits, Africa’s Backyard Wildlife, Art in Nature, Creative Digital, Mobile, Africa in Motion/Video, and two Youth Photographers of the Year.

In further elaboration of the Mkapa Awards, Nature’s Best Photography President, Stephen Freligh, says, “Through my 40 years as a publisher of photographic works, I have personally witnessed the positive results of combining the creative and documentary talents of professional, amateur, and youth photographers alike. Their extraordinary memories are our new, defining discoveries and their stories are our ever-changing window into nature.”