Sony World Photography Awards 2020 open competition: category winners and shortlist

The World Photography Organization is pleased to announce the category winners and the shortlist for the Sony World Photography Awards 2020 Open, featuring the best single works created in 2019. More than 100 photographers were short-listed for the 2020 competition along with winners in each of the ten categories. The winner of each category will receive the latest digital equipment from Sony to develop their creative vision and will compete for the prestigious title of Open Competition Photographer of the Year, as well as a $5,000 award. The winner of the Open Competition will be announced on June 9 on the online platforms of the World Photography Organization and Sony.

&copy Rosaria Sabrina Pantano, Italy, Winner, Open competition, Architecture, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

The winners in the categories were:

ARCHITECTURE

Rosaria Sabrina Pantano Italy with Emotional Geography, a black and white photo of the 38° Parallelo sculpture by Mauro Staccioli, which has a pyramidal shape and is precisely located on the 38° parallel.

&copy Suxing Zhang, China Mainland, Winner, Open competition, Creative, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

CREATIVE

Knot by Chinese photographer Suxing Zhang Mainland China is a collage of symbolic elements with a portrait of a young woman. This monochrome work is part of the Hua which means “Flower” in Chinese cycle, which looks at flowers as a metaphor for femininity.

&copy Antoine Veling, Australia, Winner, Open competition, Culture, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

CULTURE

Antoine Veling Australia with his work “From Mark,” Chapter 5, Verse 28 Mark 5:28, which captures the moment when the audience was invited to come up to dance on stage at an Iggy Pop concert at the Sydney Opera House on April 17, 2019. The picture shows Iggy Pop among the fans, a girl touching him and an assistant trying to hold people. The scene refers to Caravaggio’s painting and the Bible passage, “For I said, ‘If I so much as touch his garment, I will be healed. Mark 5:25-34 verse 28 .

&copy Craig McGowan, Australia, Winner, Open competition, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

LANDSCAPE

Craig McGowan Australia with Ice Reflections, a single iceberg against the backdrop of a fjord in Northeast Greenland National Park, Greenland. The iceberg and the surrounding landscape are perfectly reflected in the clear water, making this picturesque abstract photograph.

&copy Alec Connah, United Kingdom, Winner, Open competition, Motion, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

MOTION

In The Fall Going Down! British photographer Alec Connah United Kingdom captures the demolition of four Ironbridge power station cooling towers in Shropshire on September 6, 2019.

&copy Guofei Li, China Mainland, Winner, Open Competition, Natural World & Wildlife, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

NATURAL WORLD & WILDLIFE

Guofei Li Mainland China with Tai Chi Diagram from Botswana depicting two cheetahs licking each other after a successful hunt – in the frame they resemble the Yin-Yang symbol.

&copy Tom Oldham, United Kingdom, Winner, Open competition, Portraiture, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

PORTRAITURE

Tom Oldham UK with Black Francis, a black and white portrait of Pixies frontman Charles Thompson who went by the stage name Black Francis originally created for MOJO Magazine. When embarking on this assignment, the experienced portrait photographer Oldham was well aware that he was far from the first to work on a portrait of the star, and asked Francis to admit that he was tired of posing. The result is a portrait in which the singer seems to shield his hands from the world. This symbolic work was a great illustration for the article.

&copy Jorge Reynal, Argentina, Winner, Open competition, Still Life, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

STILL LIFE

Jorge Reynal Argentina and his photograph A Plastic Ocean, showing a dead fish, as if it were trying to breathe through a plastic bag. The work raises awareness of the plastic pollution plaguing our oceans.

&copy Santiago Mesa, Colombia, Winner, Open competition, Street Photography, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Santiago Mesa Colombia with Colombia Resiste, showing a protester in Medellin, where workers and street vendors participated in a march that was dispersed by Medellin police. This is just one of the many demonstrations that have erupted in recent years in Latin America due to rising costs of living, social inequality and lack of opportunity.

&copy Adrian Guerin, Australia, Winner, Open competition, Travel, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

TRAVEL

Adrian Guerin Australia and his piece “Riding a Saharan Freight Train. This photo was taken from the roof of the last train car carrying iron ore in Mauritania, on its way from the coastal town of Naoudibou to the 700 km away mining town of Zouerat in the Sahara. The train, stretching 2.5 kilometers, is one of the largest freight trains in the world and consists of more than 200 cars carrying rock.

Some of the outstanding works on this year’s shortlist include Pinball Pier by Stephen Tomlinson UK, Architecture , a bird’s eye view of the lights of Brighton Pier burning in the twilight Metamorphosis by Stanislav Stankovsky American Federation, Creative category , which shows car lights in the foggy night Rivers by photographer Or Adar Israel, Landscape category , a top-down view of a network of rivers and streams in the swampy Italian Venice area That’s Nothing to Laugh About by Adam Stevenson Australia, Nature and Wildlife category , which depicts a solitary cougar on the burnt-out tree branch left by one of the most devastating wildfires in Australia and Mother Love by Ottavio Marino Italy, Portrait Category depicting the intimate bond between mother and child.

This year’s Open Competition was judged by Gisela Kayser, Managing Director and Artistic Director of Freundeskreis Willy-Brandt-Haus e.V., Berlin. You can find all the participants at Sony World Photography Awards

The works of the winners and finalists will be presented in videos, presentations and Q&As on the online resources and platforms of the World Photography Organization. The decision follows the cancellation of the Sony World Photography Awards 2020 due to the pandemic. In response to recent events, the World Photography Organization has also launched a “Stay Connected” page with an extensive program of online initiatives, events and resources to support and inspire this year’s award-winning audiences and photographers.