The World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA) has announced the Samsung Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim as 2016's best open water swimming event in the category of "Offering of the Year."

At the award ceremony American former water polo athlete and open sea swimmer, Steven Munatones, said, "The Turkish Olympic Committee, its staff and volunteers organize and plan, budget and execute one of the finest and most iconic events in the world. The future is very bright for this event and its leadership in the sport of open water swimming is well-established and globally recognized."

WOWSA evaluates open water swimming events all over the world through an online poll and announces the best every year. The selection criteria include popularity, difficulty level, safety, geographical distribution of the participants, as well as how the event supports open water swimmers and coaches and the impact of open water swimming during the calendar year.

Apart from the Samsung Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim, some of the other nominees were the Prison Island Swims KIM SWIMS from the U.S., KAATSU Aqua from Japan, Hawaii Tiger Shark Tracking from the U.S., OceanFit from Australia and Wildswim.com from the U.K. Headquartered in the U.S., WOWSA is an international organization dedicated to the organization, promotion and recognition of open water swimmers and open water swimming events.

The 29th edition of the Samsung Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race will be held July 23 this year.