Striking standalone images announced as Open competition winners at 2019 Sony World Photography Awards

• Winners of the ten Open categories, judged on a single image, announced today
• National Awards winners also revealed - celebrating local photographic talent across 62 countries
• Professional shortlist announced March 26: Overall winners announced at London Awards ceremony on April 17
• Images available at www.worldphoto.org/press 

Spanning ten diverse categories, the World Photography Organisation is proud to reveal the winning single images of the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards’ Open competition.

Selected from a record-breaking number of entries submitted from 195 countries and territories, the judges have rewarded ten exceptional single images that each fit the brief of the diverse categories. The winners are:

• Architecture: Philippe Sarfati, French with the image Heatwave
• Culture (supported by Culture Trip): Pan Jianhua, China Mainland with the image Shadow Puppetry
• Creative: Martin Stranka, Czech, with the image Dreamers and Warriors
• Motion: Christy Lee Rogers, American with the image Harmony
• Landscape: Hal Gage, American with the image Stumps, Alder Lake, Nisqually River, Oregon
• Natural World and Wildlife: Tracey Lund, British with the image Underwater Gannets
• Portraiture: Richard Ansett, British with the image Grayson Perry - Birth
• Still Life: Rachel Yee Laam Lai, Hong Kong SAR with the image Peony and Leaves
• Street Photography: Carole Pariat, French with the image Open-Air Toilet
• Travel (supported by Eurostar): Nicolas Boyer, French with the image Woman Wearing a Wedding Dress

The winning photographers come from a broad range of countries and backgrounds and include full-time professional photographers, photographers who have recently converted from other careers, and enthusiasts alike.

The ten Open category winners will now go on to compete for the Open Photographer of the Year, winning $5,000 (USD). This photographer, along with the Professional categories’ winners, will be announced at an Awards’ ceremony in London on April 17.

Celebrating local talent with the National Awards

The winners of the Sony World Photography Awards’ National Awards are also revealed today. Now in its seventh year, the National Awards demonstrates the World Photography Organisation and Sony’s commitment to supporting local photographic talent by recognising the work of photographers from 62 countries and promoting it on a global scale. With winners from Myanmar to Peru, Mexico to Vietnam, the National Awards offer a unique opportunity for photographers of all abilities showcase their work. The full list of National Award winners can be found at www.worldphoto.org/2019-national-awards

Prizes and success stories

All Open category and National Award winners receive the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony. In addition, the winning works will be published in the 2019 Awards’ book and shown at the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London from April 18 – May 6, with works then going on to tour internationally to Italy, Germany and Japan.

Being recognised in the Open and National Awards competitions can change photographers’ lives. Successes from the past year include Pedro Jarque Krebs, a Peruvian photographer who was shortlisted for the 2018 Open competition’s Wildlife category and won Peru’s National Award. He has gone on to win further prestigious international awards and has been published by media worldwide. The Awards have recognised the photographer again this year, shortlisting him in the Open competition’s Natural World and Wildlife category.

Produced by the World Photography Organisation, the internationally acclaimed Sony World Photography Awards are one of the most important fixtures on the global photographic calendar. The Awards are now in their 12th year of partnership with headline sponsor Sony and consist of four competitions in total: Professional (for a body of works), Open (for a single image), Student (for academic institutions) and Youth (for 12-19 year olds). The 12th edition saw a record-breaking 326,997 submissions by photographers from 195 countries and territories, presenting some of the world’s finest contemporary photography captured over the past year.

For further information please contact:

Press team, World Photography Organisation

Jill Cotton / Emma Double press@worldphoto.org / +44 (0) 20 7886 3049

Notes to Editors

All winning and shortlisted 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 up to 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, leading international art fairs dedicated to photography. For more details see www.worldphoto.org