Alejandro Chaskielberg’s ‘The Hunter.’ Courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2011.

The 2012 Sony World Photography Awards are now open for competition, and photographers from all over the world are already uploading their submissions.

This year’s contest looks to be the most competitive in history, as photographers are encouraged to enter in any of five categories: Student, Open, Moving, Image or Professional. Each section is itself divided into numerous categories, with Professional split into Commercial, Fine Art, and Photojournalism & Documentary. This year a Nature and Wildlife category will also make its debut.

The popular Moving Images category, which features movies produced by photographers, will include six six sections this year – documentary, people, nature and wildlife, extraordinary and ordinary, commercial, and fine art.

Selected photographers will receive state-of-the-art gear from Sony. Larger prizes include $5,000 to the winner in the Open competition, and $25,000 to the recipient of the L’Iris d’Or, the top prize in the Professional category. Last year’s L’Iris d’Or went to Alejandro Chaskielberg, who beat out over 100,000 other entrants with his series ‘High Tide,’ about a small community of islanders who live in the Parana River Delta in the Amazon.

Entries for the 2012 competition will be accepted now through January 24th 2012, with the first judging set to begin in April. Head to the World Photo Organization website to read the rules and regulations. Also make sure to check out our AYP Photography Critique Club to help fine-tune your images before sending them off.