AWF and Nature’s Best Photography Announce the Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards ‘Call For Entries’

Mkapa Photography Awards Entrants Have the Opportunity to Win Cash, Prizes, and Awards Totaling USD $30,000

NAIROBI, KENYA AND WASHINGTON D.C., U.S. (APRIL 13, 2021) – African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and Nature’s Best Photography (NBP) have announced the official 'Call for Entries' for the Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards. Competition participants will have through June 18, 2021 to submit photos for consideration by a panel of judges. Professional, Amateur, and Youth (18 and younger) photographers from Africa and across the globe are invited to enter the competition. The results are scheduled to be revealed at an awards ceremony in November 2021.

Named to honor the late, iconic African leader and former Tanzanian President, H.E. Benjamin Mkapa, this new competition recognizes his leadership in conservation, education, and his passionate support for AWF programs. To help celebrate World Wildlife Day, AWF and Nature’s Best launched the awards as a pre-cursor to the 60th Anniversary of AWF later this year.

Speaking from the launch event last month at AWF HQ in Nairobi, Kenya, AWF CEO Kaddu Sebunya said, “We value innovation and technological mechanisms. Mechanisms that can scale up AWF’s work and impact, like digital technologies that can create new experiences by more directly connecting people to wild lands and wildlife. Breaking degrees of separation between people and nature and creating ownership, transparency, demonstrated impact, and personalization. This is what the Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards is all about.”

“Bringing Africa to the World and the World to Africa” defines the global competition geared towards creating a platform for Africans to embrace conservation through photography and to value the beauty of its nature.

In line with AWF’s mission to ensure wildlife and wild lands thrive in modern Africa and Nature’s Best’s to celebrate the natural world through the art of photography and visual storytelling, the competition’s goal is to engage, involve, and attract photographers at all levels of expertise, while encouraging young talent to become advocates for generational behavioral change towards wildlife conservation.

The Grand Prize Winner will be awarded USD $5,000, an interview and portfolio in Nature’s Best Photography magazine, and publication in a special edition of Nature’s Best devoted to the Mkapa Photography Awards. The category Winners will each be awarded USD $1,000 and will be featured in Nature’s Best special edition. Plus, there will be two overall Youth Winners: one African-based and one Global Winner.

The competition will enhance the visibility of African wildlife through the following categories: African Wildlife Behavior, African Wildlife Portraits, Wildlife at Risk, Fragile Wilderness, African Conservation Heroes, Wildlife in Modern Africa: Coexistence and Conflict, Art in Nature, African Wildlife Backyards, Mobile, and through the Africa in Motion/Video category, participants will be able to submit footage of natural wildlife behavior and outdoor experiences in wild lands.

In further elaboration of the new 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 impact of combining the creative and documentary talents of professional, amateur, and youth photographers alike. Their memories are our new discoveries, and their stories are the window to the wild.”

About Nature's Best Photography

Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, Nature’s Best Photography (NBP) was founded to inspire, educate, and motivate a better understanding, appreciation, and conservation of the natural world through the art of photography, storytelling, and personal wellness initiatives. This dynamic public engagement platform has produced award-winning publications, large-format print exhibitions, multimedia televised presentations, and prestigious museum events hosted around the globe. Visit naturesbestphotography.com.

About African Wildlife Foundation

The African Wildlife Foundation is the primary advocate for the protection of wildlife and wild lands as an essential part of a modern and prosperous Africa. Founded in 1961 to focus on Africa’s conservation needs, we articulate a uniquely African vision, bridge science and public policy, and demonstrate the benefits of conservation to ensure the survival of the continent’s wildlife and wild lands.

AWF MEDIA CONTACTS: For more information or to arrange interviews contact: Wambui Odhiambo of AWF in Nairobi, Kenya at wodhiambo@awf.org, +254 728 886987 or Patrick Mitchell of AWF in Washington, D.C. at pmitchell@awf.org, 202-441-7647. NBP MEDIA CONTACT: For more information or to arrange interviews contact: Stephen Freligh, NBP Awards Director, in McLean, Virginia, at sfreligh@naturesbestphotography.org or phone 703-307-7010.