After a record-breaking 319,560 images from more than 200 different countries and territories were entered, Sony has revealed the winners of the World Photography Awards 2018, and as you may expect they are nothing short of spectacular, breathtaking, unusual, and everything in between.
Now in their 11th year the Sony World Photography Awards was created by the World Photography Organisation, and are an authoritative voice in the industry. Celebrating the finest contemporary photography from the past year, the Awards give vast exposure, visibility and opportunity to photographers worldwide on an annual basis.
We here at VM Life have covered the awards numerous times so for those of you familiar with them it’s best we point out the recent changes…
In recognition of the changing use of photography, two new categories have been added to the 2018 Awards’ Professional competition.
The new ‘Creative’ and ‘Discovery’ categories are both designed to embrace photographers working at the cutting-edge of the medium. Judges will specifically look to reward originality, experimentation and imagination in these categories and hope to discover what would otherwise be unseen by the Awards. Artistic interpretation, integrity and technical ability are the key factors for judges across all categories of the Awards.
The Sony World Photography Awards comprise of four competitions:
- Professional – 10 categories judged upon a body of work (5-10 images)
- Open – best single images across 10 categories
- Youth - young photographers aged 12-19 responding to a brief with a single image
- Student Focus – for those studying photography
As it stands only the Open and National Awards have been announced with the category winners chosen by an expert panel of judges as the world’s very best single photographs – with the UK’s Nick Dolding winning the Portraiture category - and the National Awards winners selected as the strongest single image taken by a local photographer across nearly 70 countries.
The winning works and their photographers are truly international, with images coming from Australia, Argentina, Cambodia, China, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and beyond.
Subject matter across the photographs could also not have been more diverse. Photographers chose a variety of stunning landscapes, personal portraits, touching encounters and sporting moments as their inspiration.
All Open category and National Award winners receive the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony. In addition, the winning work will be published in the 2018 Awards’ book and shown at the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London at Somerset House from April 20th – May 6th.
The ten Open category winners will now go on to compete for the Open Photographer of the Year, winning $5,000. This photographer, along with the Professional categories winners, will be announced in London on April 19.
Take a look below to view some of our favourites from this year’s competition, but to see the full collection of winners and shortlisted entries, as well as the future announcements please head on over to the official website here.
