Shortlist revealed for Sony World Photography Awards, the world’s biggest photography competition

• Professional, Open and Youth competitions
• Record number of entries – 173,444 from 171 countries, 24% increase on 2014
• Shortlisted images to be shown at Somerset House, London 24 April – 10 May
• Overall winners revealed 23 April
• Images available at press.worldphoto.org or Image.net

London, 24 February: The 2015 edition of the Sony World Photography Awards, the world’s biggest photography competition, today announces the shortlists for its Professional, Open and Youth categories.

Recognising and rewarding the world’s best contemporary photography from the last year, the 2015 competition received the highest number of entries in its eight year history – 173,444 images from 171 countries – and a 24% increase on 2014.

The judging, which is done anonymously by a panel of experts from the World Photographic Academy, has uncovered inspiring, arresting and thought-provoking work by a wide range of professional photographers and enthusiasts from around the world. See full list of judges and bios here.

Across the 13 Professional, 10 Open and 3 Youth categories the judges were refreshed by the bold approach of the shortlisted photographers to familiar topics and the ability of these photographers to surprise the judges with images and stories they have not previously seen.

Speaking about the shortlisted images, Astrid Merget Motsenigos, Creative Director of the World Photography Organisation and organiser of the awards said:

“The sole purpose of the Sony World Photography Awards is to celebrate and appreciate the talented artists working in the photographic industry. Once again, the shortlist demonstrates the vibrancy, diversity and skill of both today’s established photographers and, as importantly, the growing army of citizen photographers for whom the awards offer unpreceded exposure and opportunity.

“The record number of entries gave our expert panel of judges a monumental task but we are incredibly proud to present to you a shortlist which truly showcases some of the world’s best photography.”

The shortlisted photographers for all categories are listed below and names included are both new and familiar to the competition. Those recognised again by the awards include: Peter Franck (Germany); Donald Webber (Canada); Amit Madheshiya (India); Brent Stirton (South Africa); Simon Norfolk (UK), Fan Li (China) and Massimo Siragusa (Italy). New names include Julia Fullerton-Batten (UK) and Sebastian Gil Miranda (France).

Those in the awards’ Professional categories will now compete for a $25,000 prize and the coveted L’Iris d’Or/ Photographer of the Year title. The recipient, along with the winners of the Professional categories, overall Youth and Student winners plus the Open Photographer of the Year, who receives a $5,000 prize, will all be announced at the Sony World Photography Awards Gala Ceremony on Thursday 23 April. All winners will receive the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony.

The winning and shortlisted images will go on show at Somerset House, London from 24 April – 10 May and published in the 2015 edition of the Sony World Photography Awards book. The images will be printed by theprintspace, our Official Exhibition Printer. Tickets can be booked at www.worldphoto.org/2015exhibition. The exhibition will also include an intimate display of still images, books and films by Elliott Erwitt, recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award.

• Images from the shortlist are available to download at press.worldphoto.org or via Image.net
• Please note, only Open and Youth images can be used on social media platforms and all photographs must have credits overlaid
• If using on Twitter please #SWPA and tag @WorldPhotoOrg

For further information please contact:

Jill Cotton, Senior Press Manager, World Photography Organisation

+44 (0) 20 7886 3043/ jill@worldphoto.org

Kristine Bjørge, PR Manager, World Photography Organisation

+44 (0) 20 7886 3049 / kristine@worldphoto.org

NOTES TO EDITORS

• 173, 444 images were entered in total to the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards:

87,505 Professional entries; 79,264 Open entries and 6,675 Youth entries images

• 139,554 images were entered to the 2014 awards

Sony World Photography Awards forthcoming announcements

• 3 March – Student Focus shortlist revealed
• 17 March – National Award winners revealed (best single shot taken by a photographer of that country, 47 countries involved)
• 31 March – Open and Youth category winners announced
• 23 April – Professional/Open/Student/Youth Photographers of the Year announced plus Professional category winners
• 24 April – 10 May – exhibition at Somerset House, London

2015 Honorary Jury

Taken from the World Photographic Academy, the judges of the professional category were:

• Sasha Erwitt, Photography Editor and Researcher, US
• Xingxin Guo, Vice Director of New Media, Xinhua News Agency, China
• Jocelyn Bain Hogg, Photographer, VII Photo, UK
• Matthew Leifheit, Photo Editor, VICE Magazine, US
• Joanna Milter, Deputy Photo Editor, New York Times Magazine, US
• Maria Pieri, Editorial Director, National Geographic Traveller, UK
• Oliver Schmitt, Deputy Director of Photography, Spiegel Online, Germany
• Sue Steward: writer and photography curator, UK
• Enrica Viganò, Curator and Writer, Italy

Shortlisted photographers

PROFESSIONAL CATEGORIES

Photographers were invited to enter a series of between 3 and 10 images into any of the following 13 categories. Judges were asked to select up to 10 photographers for the shortlist. Photographers are listed alphabetically

Architecture

• Joanna Bałaś, Poland
• Cosmin Bumbutz, Romania
• Jonathan Carvajal, Colombia
• Antonio La Grotta, Italy
• Massimo Siragusa / Agenzia Fotogiornalistica Contrasto Galleria del Cembalo, Italy
• Vadim Sivak, Ukraine

Arts & Culture

• Alessandra Bello, Italy
• Maurizio Beucci / Leica Camera Italia, Italy
• Aristide Economopoulos, United States
• Dennis Fung / DF Photowork, Hong Kong
• Olaf Schuelke / Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo, Germany
• Koh Soon, Malaysia
• Brent Stirton, South Africa
• Pierre André Transunto, Italy
• Rich Wiles / Invision - Images, United Kingdom
• Gili Yaari, Israel

Campaign

• Jonathan Banks, United Kingdom
• Katamura Fumihito, Japan
• Eduardo Leal / 4SEE Photographers, Portugal
• Amit Madheshiya, India
• Sebastian Gil Miranda, France
• Fei Maohua, China
• Jonathan Syer, United Kingdom

Conceptual

• Alejandro Almaraz, Argentina
• Kursad Bayhan / Zaman Newspaper, Turkey
• Meike Fischer, Germany
• Lisa Gimenez / KLÖN Gallery, Argentina
• Daesung Lee, South Korean
• Jordi Pizarro, Spain
• Katia Platonova, Russia
• Rahul Talukder, Bangladesh
• Julie van der Vaart / 44 Gallery, Netherlands

Contemporary Issues

• Corentin Fohlen, France
• Shah Newaz Khan / Photobank Gallery, Bangladesh
• Lisa Krant, United States
• Annalisa Natali Murri, Italy
• Brent Stirton, South Africa
• Boguslawa Trela, Poland
• Scott Typaldos / Prospekt, Switzerland

Current Affairs

• Valery Melnikov / Rossia segodnya, Russia
• John Moore / Getty Images, United States
• Vladyslav Musiienko / UNIAN, Ukraine
• Herman Verwey / Media24, South Africa

Landscape

• Peng-Chun Yen / NEPO Gallery, Taiwan
• Laia Abril / Institute Artist, Spain
• Armando Avallone, Italy
• Simon Butterworth, United Kingdom
• Simon Norfolk, United Kingdom
• Rudi Sebastian, Germany
• Eva Skalak, Czech Republic
• Giulio di Sturco / Reportage by Getty, Italy
• Danila Tkachenko, Russia

Lifestyle

• Dovile Dagiene, Lithuania
• Julia Fullerton-Batten, United Kingdom
• Ramil Gilvanov / Rimma Gilvanova, Russia
• Alvaro Gomez Vidal, Spain
• Chen Jian, China
• Fan Li / Lon Gallery, China
• Jiangsong Li / Reuters News Agency, China
• JM Lopez / AFP, Spain
• Yoko Naito, Japan
• Mahadev Rojas Torres, Venezuela

People

• Johan Bavman, Sweden
• Carla Kogelman, Netherlands
• Sabine Lewandowski, Germany
• Tali Mayer & Janos Chiala, Italy
• Cecila Meller, France
• Jennifer Osborne / Upper Orange, Canada
• Liza Van der Stock, Belgium
• Giovanni Troilo / Institute Artist, Italy

Belgian

Portraiture

• Christian Berthelot, France
• Rodrigo Illescas, Argentina
• Jens Juul, Denmark
• Tomasz Lazar, Poland
• Kerry Mansfield, United States
• Ruben Salgado Escudero, Spain
• Dougie Wallace / Institute Artist, United Kingdom

Sport

• Salil Bera / The Week, India
• Riccardo Bononi / IRFOSS, Italy
• Irina Dainakova / La Dolce Vita Magazine, Belarus
• Sascha Fromm, Germany
• Guorong Jia, China
• Anthony Kham, Cambodia
• Marcin Klocek / Traveller.pl, Poland
• Clas Kristensen, Norway
• Ronaldo Land, Brazil
• Jonathan Yeap Chin Tiong, Singapore

Still Life

• Peter Franck / Schacher- Raum für Kunst, Germany
• Kirill Golovchenko / Agentur Focus and Dymchuk Gallery, Ukraine
• Kimmo Metsäranta, Finland
• Vova Pomortzeff / Agentur Focus, Russia
• Emanuele Satolli, Italy
• Mong-Yong Sim / Mysim Design, Malaysia
• Krishna Tummalapalli, India
• Donald Weber / VII Photo Agency, Canada

Travel

• Nazir Azhari Bin Mohd Anis, Malaysia
• Nadia Maria Dias, India
• Andrea de Franciscis, Italy
• Peter Franck / Schacher- Raum für Kunst, Germany
• Zbynek Hrbata, Czech Republic
• Bernhard Lang, Germany
• Yoko Naito, Japan
• Vasilis Ntamplis / Eleftheria, Greece
• Adhi Prayoga, Indonesia
• Farid Sani, Iran

OPEN CATEGORIES

Presiding Chair: Sam Barzilay, Creative Director, United Photo Industries (US)

Judged on a single shot and open to photographers of all abilities, judges were asked to select up to 10 shortlisted images per category.

Architecture

• Gina Alderson-Hicks, Australia
• Armin Appel, Germany (shortlisted for two images)
• Marcus Bayer, Germany
• Goran Erfani, Iran
• Michiel Hageman, Netherlands
• Cesar March, Spain
• Andrea Rossato, Italy
• Jürgen Schrepfer, Germany
• Klaus Wäscher, Germany

Arts and Culture

• Aprison Aprison, Indonesia
• Muhammad Berkati, Indonesia
• Kai Heimberg, Germany
• David Martin Huamani Bedoya, Peru
• Hector Muñoz Huerta, Mexico
• Adrian Jaszczak, Poland
• Partha Sen, India
• Alessandro Spiga, Italy
• Elangovan Subrmania, India
• Marius Vieth, Germany

Enhanced

• Lione Bakker, Netherlands
• Ceslovas Cesnakevicius, Lithuania
• Antony Crossfield, United Kingdom
• Lisa Griffin, Ireland
• Nenad Martic, Croatia
• Daniel Necula, Romania
• Manh Ngoc Nguyen, Germany
• Milad Safabakhsh, Iran
• Zoltan Toth, Hungary
• Theo de Witte, Netherlands

Low Light

• Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee, India
• Katja Gragert, Germany
• Rodrigo Jardon, Mexico
• Tsang Kam Man, China
• Alexander Kitsenko, Ukraine
• Nick Ng Yeow Kee, Malaysia
• Darren Nisbett, United Kingdom
• Iskra Parvanova, Bulgaria
• Zol Straub, Australia
• Ian Thuillier, Ireland

Nature & Wildlife

• Seyed Babak Musavi, Iran
• Gal Gross, Israel
• Harfian Herdi, Indonesia (shortlisted for two images)
• Melissa Little, Australia
• Peep Loorits, Estonia
• Yasuyuki Oono, Japan
• Yvonne Spane, Germany
• Jassen Todorov, United States
• Antoine Weis, Switzerland/ Luxemberg

Panoramic

• Marcio Cabral, Brazil
• Mohammad Reza Domiri Ganji, Iran (shortlisted for two images)
• Wojciech Kruczynski, Poland
• Markus Kuhn, Germany
• Mike MacKinven, New Zealand
• Pierumberto Pampanin, Italy
• Norman Quinn, United Kingdom

People

• Saeed Barikani, Iran
• Amitava Chandra, India
• Sergio Diaz, Spain
• Raquel Lopez-Chicheri, Spain
• Simon Morris, United Kingdom
• Agus Purnomo, Indonesia
• Saleh Rozati, Iran
• Peter Voss, Germany
• Hui Hua Wang, Singapore

Smile

• Tzu-Hsun Fang, Taiwan
• Mohammad Amir Hamja, Bangladesh
• Ümmü Kandilcioğlu, Turkey
• Christine Kapuschinsky Johnson, Austria
• Kiatthaworn Khorthawornwong, Thailand
• Wilson Lee, Hong Kong
• Joseph Makeni, Kenya
• Steffen Rothammel, Germany
• Peter Voss, Germany
• Umair Wadood, Pakistan

Split Second

• Ata Mohammad Adnan, Bangladesh
• Panom Archarit, Thailand
• Uwe Hennig, Germany
• Small Monte Lee, China
• Cesar March, Spain
• Jaime Massieu, Spain
• Eko Prihariyanto, Indonesia
• Lessy Sebastian, Indonesia (shortlisted for two images)
• Tarek Touma, Lebanon

Travel

• Kumar Bishwajit, Bangladesh
• Ioulia Chvetsova, France
• Byron Dilkes, United Kingdom
• Jorge Fernandez, Spain
• Yasen Georgiev, Bulgaria
• Kok Keong Na, Malaysia
• Enrico Madini, Italy
• Ismail Abdul Mutalib, Indonesia
• Vladimir Proshin, Russia
• Massimo Rumi, Italy

YOUTH COMPETITION

Open to photographers aged 19 and under, judged by the World Photography Organisation.

Culture

• Mohammad Baggale Asghari Baghmishe, Iran
• Gaurang Bhatt, India
• Zhu Lin Ch'ng, Malaysia
• Pnar Efe, Turkey
• Reuben Foong, Singapore
• David Pereira, Singapore
• Beatriz Rocha, Portugal
• Andres Felipe Caicedo Sierra, Colombia (shortlisted for two images)

Environment

• Krishan Bansal, India
• Alex Foden, United Kingdom
• Fernando Henrique, Venezuela
• Nihal Koppath, India
• Daniel Malikyar, Afghanistan
• Sepehr Razmju, Iran
• Jacopo Sironi, Italy
• Yong Lin Tan, Malaysia (shortlisted for two images)
• Ivan Turukhano, Russia

Portraits

• Adi Dekel, Israel
• Daniil Maksyukov, Russia
• Marco Toc, Guatemala