2018 Sony World Photography Awards chooses Ireland’s best photograph

• Photographer Kenneth O’Halloran revealed as winner of Ireland National Award
• All winners of Awards’ Open competition and National Awards announced today
• Images available at www.worldphoto.org/press

The Sony World Photography Awards today announce Kenneth O’Halloran as the winner of the 2018 Ireland National Award.

O’Halloran, an editorial photographer based in Dublin, won for a photograph titled Winnie. The work was selected by an expert panel of judges as the best single image taken by an Ireland photographer submitted to the 2018 Awards.

Produced by the World Photography Organisation, the Sony World Photography Awards is the world’s most diverse photography competition. The 11th edition saw a record breaking 320,000 submissions by photographers from more than 200 countries and territories, presenting some of the world’s finest contemporary photography captured over the past year.

As National Award winner, the photographer receives the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony and will be flown to London to attend the Sony World Photography Awards ceremony on April 19. The winning work will be shown at the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London from April 20 – May 6 and published in the 2018 Awards’ book.

Describing the winning work, O’Halloran says: “I first met Winnie with her family at the annual Africa Day celebrations in Farmleigh House in Dublin on Sunday 21st May. I was commissioned by the Irish Times to cover the event which is a celebration of the culture, diversity and links to Ireland of the continent’s 54 countries. I photographed Winnie with two other girls, Yewande Ogunnaike and Favour Nwoga. The African girls were competing in The Miss Africa competition, all three wearing tiaras. Winnie was celebrating her first Holy Communion with her parents, brothers and sisters. The resulting image appeared in the front page of the following day’s Irish Times Newspaper. I also took a few family photographs and promised to deliver the images in person to their home at a later date. Two weeks later I delivered the photographs and spoke to Winnie’s mother about the possibility of making a portrait of her as a solitary figure, only this time using the back garden as a location.”

The photographer continues:“I am delighted to have won at the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards. It's a great honour to be selected from such a large number of entries.”

Kenneth O’Halloran is a photographer based in Dublin. He was born in the West of Ireland and is a graduate of the Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin. He holds a Masters in Fine Art Photography from The University of Ulster, Belfast. O’Halloran's work has appeared in magazines such as The New York Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, Stern, Le Monde, TIME, GEO, The Financial Times Magazine and Cosmopolitan Magazine. His work has been recognized by World Press, American Photography, Alliance Francaise, and the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize. He is also a winner of the Terry O'Neill Photography award.

The success is announced today alongside the winners all 63 National Awards, and the 10 categories of the Awards’ Open competition. The overall and Professional category winners of the Awards will be announced April 19. For more details visit www.worldphoto.org

For further information please contact:

Press team, World Photography Organisation press@worldphoto.org / +44 (0) 20 7886 3043 / 3049

Notes to Editors

All shortlisted and commended images are available to download for publication at www.worldphoto.org/press

About World Photography Organisation
The World Photography Organisation is a global platform for photography initiatives. Working across more than 180 countries, our aim is to raise the level of conversation around photography by celebrating the best imagery and photographers on the planet. We pride ourselves on building lasting relationships with both individual photographers as well as our industry-leading partners around the world. The World Photography Organisation hosts a year-round portfolio of events including the Sony World Photography Awards, one of the world’s leading photography competitions, and PHOTOFAIRS, international art fairs dedicated to photography with destinations in Shanghai and San Francisco. For more details see www.worldphoto.org.