The 2019 Sony World Photography Awards Professional Shortlist has been announced

The World Photography Organization has released the list of finalists for the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards, a professional competition in which the best photographers from around the world present their most striking series of images.

&copy Pol Kurucz, France, Shortlist, Professional, Creative, 2019 Sony World Photography Awards

The contest provides contestants with an exceptional opportunity to showcase their skills on a global level. The professional work of past winners and finalists has received a major boost: their work is now featured in galleries and exhibitions, and they are being contracted for publication. The images on the 2019 shortlist reflect a colorful, multidimensional vision of contemporary photography.

The jury – leading representatives from academia, museums, publishing houses, festivals and media – carefully selected the most impressive and relevant works in 10 different categories. The Professional Competition shortlist evaluates a series of 5-10 unique images, many of which are part of large-scale works. Each series demonstrates their outstanding artistic skills and experience in photography, editing and visual storytelling, i.e. their ability to tell their viewers incredible stories about people and the modern world in a lively and expressive way.

The photographers making the short list announced today offer their interpretation of the contemporary world in all its forms. Many of the sequences deal with current political issues: Daniel Ochoa de Olza Spain presents the prototypes of a wall to be built on the Mexico-US border. Today, they are featured in the. San Diego. The photos by Toby Binder Germany capture the universal concerns of young people in Belfast, Ireland, and how Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union may affect the implementation of the 1998 Belfast Agreement. The beauty of nature and human impact can be seen in aerial photographs taken in Ethiopia by Kieran Dodds UK showing the clearing of 95% of natural forests, and by Leah Schretenthaler USA . The photographer used ordinary film and silver halides to create and print images of infrastructure assets of questionable value in Hawaii that she then cut out with a laser. Now in their place are voids resembling scars.

A number of works offer a glimpse into the lives of little-known communities. Alice Mann South Africa captures the unique motivational subculture of female drum teams, Kohei Ueno Japan takes the viewer into the underwater world of freediving competitions, and Alessandro Grassani Italy presents stunning portraits of female boxers filmed in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.

The success of the shortlisted photographers is particularly significant because this year’s Professional Competition received a record number of entries from 161 countries, including from as far away as Gabon, Paraguay and Côte d’Ivoire. The international roster remains intact, with both emerging and established photographers from 30 countries, including St. Kitts and Nevis, Finland, Japan, Colombia and Iran.

All Professional Competition finalists will go on to compete for the title of winner in each category, the title of

“Photographer of the Year

and a prize of $25,000. On April seventeenth in London, the second- and third-place photographers in each category will also be honored, and their images will be included in the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition. The exhibition opens in the capital of Great Britain, and afterwards the works will be exhibited in various countries as part of a world tour.

&copy Andrew Kelly , Australia, Shortlist, Professional, Documentary, 2019 Sony World Photography Awards

Student competition

The Student Competition shortlist consists of works by 10 students from leading institutions of higher learning from around the world. The theme of this year’s contest, Evolution, is close to photographers from different countries: the geography of the short list covers the entire planet, from Bangladesh and Malaysia to Spain, Argentina and Canada.

All ten finalists have won digital photography equipment from Sony. In addition, they will go to the Awards Ceremony on April 17 in London, where the winner of the Student Competition will be announced. He will receive €30,000 worth of photographic equipment from Sony for his school.

In London, student finalists will meet Nadav Kander, winner of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award, and participate in a portfolio evaluation led by 2019 Student Competition judge Jason Baron Chief Creative Photographer at BBC Creative and experts from the World Photography Organization. In addition to providing students and their mentors with useful networking opportunities, all students will be considered for the 2019 Sony Student Grant Award.

The prestigious Sony World Photography Awards competition is a project of the World Organization of Photography and one of the most important events in the international photographic industry. This year the organizers are celebrating the twelfth anniversary of the partnership with its main sponsor, Sony. The Sony World Photography Awards are divided into four categories: the Professional Competition, which features a series of entries the Open Competition, which features individual entries the Student Competition, which features student entries and the Juvenile Competition, which features entries from aspiring photographers ages 12 to 19.

&copy Trent Mitchell, Australia, Shortlist, Professional, Sport, 2019 Sony World Photography Awards

Professional and Student Photo Contest Finalists Decided

Mike Trow editor, photographer, consultant, UK , chairman of the jury of this year’s Professional Competition, comments on the experts’ choices:

“This year’s selection of entries for the Professional Competition shortlist was accompanied by a fascinating discussion about the conceptual underpinnings of the photographs submitted, new narrative forms, and traditional narrative methods in the visual arts. In some ways this has been the most challenging and controversial year in the history of the competition, and that’s great. “Moreover, the participants once again pushed the limits of photography and questioned the perceptions and expectations of the public.

Erin Barnett Head of Exhibitions and Collections, International Center of Photography, USA said:

“I wasn’t surprised by the quality of the entries, but I was pleased by the sheer number of entries in each category. It’s wonderful how photographers never stop discovering new things and making me rethink preconceptions. It is important not to forget that strong photographs change our perceptions and teach us to see the world around us in a different light.”.

Brendan Embser Editor, Aperture Magazine, USA :

“The photographers we have chosen, whose works are on display today, are at the forefront of contemporary photography: they are the new generation.”.

Emma Lewis judge and deputy curator of exhibitions at Tate Gallery, UK :

“I was struck by the expression and rigor of the documentary projects: interesting, often topical topics that were meticulously researched and tactfully in relation to the subjects covered. Also worthy of note is the authentic conceptual approach of each of the contributors.”.

Liu Heung Shing founder of the Shanghai Photography Center, China :

“We chose winners who showed the highest quality of photography and the ability to draw the viewer into their work.”.

Isabella van Marle Head of Photographer-Gallery Engagement, Unseen Amsterdam Platform, The Netherlands :

“While judging the entries in the Sony World Photography Awards, I was immediately drawn to the versatility of approaches in certain categories. I think everyone should go to the Sony World Photography Awards because there are all kinds of different works, and there are many beautiful and delicate projects.

The judges for this year’s Student Competition were international photography experts with significant insight into the work of young photographers. The jury included Jason Baron, chief creative photographer at BBC Creative, Bruno Bayley, managing editor at Magnum Photos, and Jeff Hamada, founder and editor of BOOOOOOOM.

&copy Federico Borella, Italy, Shortlist, Professional, Documentary, 2019 Sony World Photography Awards

Speaking about the quality of the work, Jason Baron noted:

“It was very encouraging to see that this year’s Student Contest featured many diverse works, not only in terms of subject matter, but also in terms of the genre of photography. There’s urban landscape, light portraiture, reportage, and object photography, just to name a few. It’s nice to know that the future of different types of photography is in the capable hands of very talented young photographers.”.

Commenting on this year’s competition, Scott Gray, director general of the World Photography Organization, said:

“The bar for participants in the Sony World Photography Awards continues to rise every year. We’re delighted to see so much groundbreaking work submitted to this year’s Professional and Student Contests. For all these extraordinary photographers, both established and emerging, the Sony World Photography Awards competition is a truly international platform where they can showcase and present their work.”.

Prizes

All finalists and winners will be featured at the Sony World Photography Awards 2019 at Somerset House in London. One section of the exhibition will be devoted to the works of the award-winning

“Outstanding Contribution to Photography.”

2019 award-winning photographer Nadav Kander. The exhibition will run from April 18 to May 6, 2019, at Somerset House, London, before embarking on a world tour, including Japan, Germany and China. Tickets for the London exhibition are available atworldphoto.org/2019exhibiition

All winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on April 17.

Photographer of the Year, Open Competition Photographer of the Year, and Junior Competition Photographer of the Year winners

, as well as the winners of the Professional Competition categories and the ten Student Competition finalists will be invited to London for a gala event. The winners will also receive the latest digital photography equipment from Sony, and their work will be published in the 2019 award winner’s book.