Sony World Photography Awards 2013: submissions are now closed, and now it’s the winner’s turn

Acceptance of entries for the international Sony World Photography Awards 2013 is now closed. Sony World Photography Awards SWPA are recognized as one of the main international events of the year in the photo industry. More than 112,000 submissions from 171 countries were received last year.

Both professional and amateur photographers can participate in the competition. The works can be done on any photo equipment, and the wide range of contest categories gives to each photographer a chance to show himself in the genre he likes most.

The 2013 Best Professional Photographer will receive the Golden Iris d’Or as well as a $25,000 cash prize and the Golden Iris Award. URL. U.S. Amateur photographers to participate in open competition and compete for a cash prize of 5k. $. US. Winners in all categories will receive the latest Sony digital imaging equipment.

Every year more and more American photographers, both amateurs and professionals, become participants of the Sony World Photography Awards. Last year America ranked 4th in the number of applications among all participating countries.

In 2013 American representatives also appeared in the jury of the contest – one of the honorary judges of SWPA 2013 is Olga Sviblova, director of the Multimedia Art Museum New York House of Photography .

Applications can be submitted free of charge at the worldphoto website.org. Shortlist will be published on February 5, 2013.

The deadline for entries in the ten categories of the open competition for amateur and enthusiast photographers is January 4, 2013.

Entries in 15 professional categories are open until January 9, 2013.

All winning and shortlisted entries in the various categories always bring their creators worldwide fame and recognition.

British photographers Palmer + Pawel, 2012 winners of one of the competition’s categories, say: “Winning these awards helps greatly expand a photographer’s audience, opens up a wide range of perspectives and allows you to take advantage of unique benefits that were previously unavailable.

Winning the professional category “Sport” not only gave us the opportunity to present our work to a wider audience, but also to obtain funding for our project “Nights in Sao Paulo,” the first part of which we shot when we were invited to the city by Sony in Brazil.

Argentinean photographer Irina Werning described the support that the World Photography Organization WPO provides to the contest winners as invaluable. Winner of the 2012 award, Irina spent a month touring five Latin American countries, made possible by the support of WPO and Sony’s Latin American division.

In each of the five countries Irina held exhibitions of her work, gave workshops and was able to make new photos for the Back to the Future series which won the professional category “Portrait” in 2012 .

All the winners and finalists of the 2013 competition will be on display in the London Gallery at the historic Somerset House in April-May 2013. These will also be featured on the WPO website. All winning entries, as well as selections from the shortlisted participants, will be published in the annual Sony World Photography Awards album.

The honored jury that will decide the outcome of the professional competition this year is headed by Catherine Chermayeff, the head of a leading American photo agency, who has recently been named director of the Magnum Foundation. The judging panel will include photography professionals from the World Photography Academy, including travel photographer Macduff Everton, photo editor of

Guardian

Fiona Shields, Magnum photographer Chien-Chi Chang and Olga Sviblova, director of New York House of Photography.

For more information on the Sony World Photography Awards and the World Photography Organization, visit the worldphoto website.org.