The Digital Storytelling Contest was first introduced in 2011 by the World Press Photo Foundation as the ‘Multimedia Contest’. The contest, which is open to short documentary film and interactive productions, was launched as a way to recognize and reward forms of visual storytelling enabled by digital technologies. These technologies have transformed the way we produce and consume stories and continue to shape the future of the media economy.
In its first decade, the contest has grown from 42 nominations in 2011 to almost 300 entries in 2020, and awards have changed in response to developments in the industry. For the 2019 Digital Storytelling Contest, the World Press Photo Foundation introduced two headline awards, the World Press Photo Interactive of the Year and the World Press Photo Online Video of the Year.
