Thousands entered the iPhone Photography Awards contest. These are the winners.

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July 18, 2018 at 9:30 a.m. EDT

The iPhone Photography Awards were created 11 years ago when the popularity of taking photos with an iPhone started to increase. Every year, the competition receives thousands of submissions. Photographers can enter images in 20 categories, including news and events, landscape, still life and travel. In addition to the winners chosen from those categories, the judges also award two “photographer of the year” prizes: grand prize and first place. The competition is the first and longest-running competition for people taking photos with their iPhones (or iPads).

Kenan Aktulun, the founder of the awards, told In Sight why he created the event:

“I started the awards as a hobby when I got my first iPhone. I’ve been doing photography and working in the user experience design field for long time. I was fascinated by changing user behavior with the introduction of the iPhone. Almost every iPhone user I observed was using the camera for capturing moments. They were not necessarily thinking about photography but taking snapshots of the moments that meant something to them. My idea was to create a platform to celebrate the creativity of the iPhone users.”

This year’s grand prize for photographer of the year was awarded to Jashim Salam, and first place went to Alexandre Weber.

A documentary photographer based in Bangladesh, Salam is a graduate of Pathshala, the South Asian Media Institute. He holds a postgraduate diploma in visual journalism and was a beneficiary of the World Press Photo at the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.

Weber is a 47-year-old anthropologist who studies the history of art. He is an avid traveler who uses his iPhone to take pictures as he visits places. You can see more of Salam’s work here and here, and more of Weber’s work here.

You can find out more about the competition on its website. Here are the rest of the first-place winners in the other categories.

*Editor’s note. This post has been updated to include comments by the founder of the iPhone Photography Awards.

In Sight is The Washington Post’s photography blog for visual narrative. This platform showcases compelling and diverse imagery from staff and freelance photographers, news agencies and archives. If you are interested in submitting a story to In Sight, please complete this form.

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