The most beautiful dog photos in the world

The British dog protection organization The Kennel Club has just announced the results of the Dog Photographer of the Year contest, honoring photographers with the best works about dogs in 2016.

A Girl's Best Friend - Overall Winner and Man's Best Friend by photographer Maria Davison

This is the 12th year the competition has been held and has received many “truly amazing” works about man's four-legged friends, according to the organizers.

According to the award website, Dog Photographer of the Year began accepting entries last October and ended in March. The contest received nearly 10,000 entries from 74 countries.

The Overall Winner was photographer Maria Davison from Portugal with her photo A Girl's Best Friend of a dog named Yzma.

This is also the work that won in the category.Man's Best Friendfor photographers who capture the special relationship between humans and dogs.

“For me, photography is about capturing honest moments, and this is one of those moments,” photographer Maria Davison says of her photo.

“A friend of mine who had just adopted Yzma and I took a few photos while we were chatting in the kitchen. Even though the location and lighting weren’t perfect, the result was one of the photos I’m most proud of.”

Photographer Kaylee Greer from the US won the categoryDogs at PlayCapture the happy moments of dogs in life.

Kaylee said her award-winning photo, Splash! of Petey, was taken at sunset, casting golden sunlight over the ocean. “Petey jumped into the water with such joy in his eyes, beckoning me to come and play with him,” said photographer Kaylee.

Meanwhile, the dog named Rita in the photo On the Move brought British photographer Sarah Caldecott first prize in the category.Dogs at Workdepicting dogs on duty.

Russian photographer Anastasia Vetkovskaya was awarded first prize in the Dog Portrait category with her photo Black Beauty of Sisley, whom she called “very impressive and emotional”.

A very humane category of the award isAssistance Dogsfor photographers who photograph assistance dogs (dogs trained to assist people with disabilities).

The winner of this category will receive £500 from the Kennel Club Charitable Trust for their chosen dog charity.

This year's winner of this category went to British photographer Alasdair MacLeod with this photo of Megan & Duncan, a dog at South Beach Care nursing home in Saltcoats, Scotland.

According to the author of the photo, Megan gave a loving look to Mr. Duncan Currie, a 95-year-old veteran at the hospital who suffers from dementia.

Other categories of the award include Rescue Dogs about the new lives of dogs after being rescued, I Love Dog Because… for young photographers from 12 to 17 years old expressing their love for dogs, Young Pup Photographer for photographers under 11 years old, Oldies with the subject of older dogs, Pupies with the subject of puppies under 6 months old, and Special Mentions for photographers whose works are highly appreciated by the judges.

Some of the Dog Photographer of the Year award-winning entries:

Dogs At Play Category Winner by Kaylee Greer

Young Pup Photographer Category Winner by Dylan Jenkins

First Prize in the Rescue Dogs Category by Alexandra Robins

First Place in the Assistance Dogs Category by Alasdair MacLeod

First Prize in the I Love Dogs Because... category by Julian Gottfried

Dogs At Work Category Winner by Sarah Caldecott

Second Place Dogs At Play by Rodrigo Capuski

Second Place in the Assistance Dogs category by John Ferrett

Second prize Oldies category by Igor Mysenhevych

Third Prize Dog Portrait by Noel Bennett

Third Prize Puppies Category by Ruud Lauritsen

Third Place Rescue Dogs by Kaylee Greer

2nd Place Rescue Dogs Category by Martin Tosh

According to TTO