The Sony World Photography Awards has unveiled the Open category winners, as well as the shortlist of final images, selected from over 200,000 entries competing for the title of Open Photographer of the Year 2023.
Yet to be revealed are the overall winners in the Student, Youth and Professional competitions, which are expected to be announced next month at the prestigious awards ceremony taking place in London, England, on April 13.
• These are the best Sony cameras (opens in new tab) – which may help you take award-winning shots of your own!
Recognizing the best single shots from 2022, the Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA) aims to showcase the excellence of global photography without placing any barriers on who can enter, welcoming photographers of all ages, abilities, incomes and skill levels to flaunt their best work for consideration.
Over 415,000 images were submitted across all categories, and from photographers situated all around the world, representing 200 different countries and territories.
The SWPA is essentially the Olympics of photography, and only the very best images and photographers are destined to come out on top, selected by an esteemed panel of industry judges.
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The overall winner of the Architecture category was photographer Mark Benham from the UK with The Silos (above), which had been captured at the Port of Brest in France.
Winning the Creative category was German photographer, Boris Eldagsen, with his image The Electricia (below), a black-and-white portrait of two women clearly from very different generations.
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An image of a Greek mountain landscape that features a hiker climbing up Mount Tymf won the Landscape category. The untitled image (below, top) captured by Giorgos Rousopoulos also showcases the distant Pindus National Park.
Azim Khan Ronnie was the overall winner of the Lifestyle category with their image, Childhood (below, bottom), that depicts children playing with a dry rice cart, as well as giant cones (topas) at a Bangladeshi rice processing plant.
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Zhenhuan Zhou, hailing from mainland China, was named the Motion category winner for their shot, Slam on the Brakes (top of this article), that features a cowgirl in a barrel racing competition that took place in Ontario, Canada.
The Natural World & Wildlife category winner was photographer Dinorah Graue Obscura, from Mexico, with Mighty Pairs (below), which features two crested caracara birds that are posing perfectly together, creating a balanced black-and-white portrait that was captured during a trip to South Texas.
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Mieke Douglas from the Netherlands won the Object category with their image, recycled (below, top), depicting flower-like plastic bags and tulle arranged as a bouquet.
The Portraiture category winner was UK photographer, Sukhy Hullait, with Charlie (below, bottom) – a photograph of a young teenage boy who transformed an abandoned car park into a skatepark during the pandemic closure of social spaces.
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Andreas Mikonauschke from Germany won the top prize in the Street Photography category for Exhausted, a black-and-white portrait of individuals carrying religious statues and relics through the streets of Andalusia, during the traditional ‘Semana Santa’.
Lastly, a black-and-white image titled Ghosts (bottom) won the Travel category and was captured by UK photographer, Max Vere-Hodge. It depicts the Mundari tribe of South Sudan, among the nightly fires lit to deter tsetse flies and mosquitoes from Ankole-Watusi cows.
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Each of the category winners will receive photo equipment courtesy of Sony, as well as the opportunity to compete for the prestigious Open Photographer of the Year title and a generous $5,000 (approximately £4,150 / AU$7,570) prize.
The overall winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 will be announced on April 13 and will go on display as part of the exhibition at Somerset House, London, running from April 14 to May 01 2023.
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You may also be interested in the best lenses for portraits (opens in new tab)as well as the best cameras for landscape photography (opens in new tab)and not forgetting the best action cameras (opens in new tab) for freezing time and documenting a precious moment.
