World Press Photo, the world's largest photojournalism competition, is now open for entries.

Portfolios can only be submitted online via the World Press Photo website; and while photographers have until 12 January to submit their photos, they must register for a login before 06 January at 23h59 Central European Time.

Single pictures as well as photo stories/portfolios are accepted in the following nine categories: Spot News, General News, People in the News, Sports, Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, Arts and Entertainment, Portraits and Nature.

This year, however, photographers are also allowed to submit projects in the multimedia category, which was first introduced in 2011. "The first [multimedia] contest was set up as a pilot project, where entries were nominated by an international committee of experts, but the second edition in 2012 will be open for contestants to enter their work themselves," says the World Press Photo organisers.

These projects must include professional still photography in combination with, but not limited to, audio and visual elements as video, animation, graphics, illustrations, sound and text.

Entries for the multimedia categories will be accepted from 08 December until 19 January 2012. "The judges will convene in Amsterdam at the beginning of March and the winners will be announced online on 15 March 2012," says the organisation.

In the regular still photography contest, this year's jury will be chaired by David Friends, with Steve Pyke, Joel Sartore and Koji Aoki respectively chairing the portraits, nature and sports panels. The complete list of judges will be announced in December.

The results will be announced on 10 February in a press conference at the Amsterdam City Hall.

For more details, visit www.worldpressphoto.org.