The shortlists for the Sony World Photography Awards 2022 Student and Junior Competition have been announced

The World Photography Organization announces the shortlisted entries for the Sony World Photography Awards 2022 Student and Youth. The winners of the Student Photographer of the Year and Junior Photographer of the Year categories will be announced on April 12, 2022 and presented at the Sony World Photography Awards 2022, to be held at Somerset House, London.

&copy Ezra Bohm, Netherlands, Finalist, Student competition, Connections, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

STUDENT COMPETITION SHORTLIST

The shortlist for the Student Competition included works by 10 students from leading institutions of higher education around the world. This year, participants were invited to submit a series of five to ten works on the theme of Connections. Over the last two years we’ve had to fundamentally rethink the way we interact with the world around us. Each shortlisted entry contains balanced and judicious answers to questions about the subject.

Connections to cultural identity and community are explored in several projects at once, such as Ezra Bohm’s Dutch Identity Ezra Bohm Netherlands, Nederlandse Acedemie voor Beeldcreatie , which focuses on the inhabitants of the Dutch village Urk, the last people in the Netherlands still wearing traditional clothing

“Becoming South African” by Aidan Murgatroyd South Africa, Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography , which tells of a photographer’s journey of finding a better understanding and connection to his native country after a long absence

“Theologians” by Sergei Pronin American Federation, Dokdok School of Contemporary Photography , which shows participants of a summer camp of the theological faculty of the Orthodox Svyato-Tikhonovsky Humanitarian University in search of spiritual communion

&copy Sergey Pronin, American Federation, Finalist, Student competition, Connections, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

“Dennis Mubanga Kabwe’s The Butcher Open Window University, Zambia , showing a butcher at work in the local market and Chris Rosas Vargas’ Cariño Parsons School of Design, USA , a series of sentimental landscapes of public spaces in the Bronx and Harlem.

In other entries the authors explore the problem of interactions through their understanding of togetherness, such as Alexander Komenda Canada, Aalto University, Finland in his series “Tiramisu” which tells how he tried not to get discouraged and collaborated with his classmates in his isolation or Oriel Naxhielly Martins Armenia, ENFO Escuela De Fotograf School of Photography, Finland &iacute a, Argentina in her series Disconnected Disconnected, where the photographer shows moments of physical intimacy and how she experienced isolation during the pandemic.

In addition, the connection to the past and family stories were central to several projects. As an example, the series called “Connections” by Sachi Deshmukh India, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Italy , in which the author juxtaposes past and present through images of old photographs of her parents after their wedding in their now aging hands.

In Memories of Family Xu Han Mainland China, Nanjing University of Arts uses large abstract photographs of paint drops and patterns to symbolize the nature of his relationship with his family and the series “Even when we breathe, we move” by Angela Stoll Australia, University of Wollongong explores the idea of movement as the flow of time through long exposure black and white shots of a dancer in an abandoned space.

The winner of the Student Photographer of the Year Award will be chosen from these ten students and will be announced on April 12, 2022. Together with the university he represented, the winner will receive digital Sony equipment worth 30,000 euros. Colin Czerwinski, founder of NOICE magazine, judged the shortlist for this year’s Student Competition.

&copy Elijah Baptiste, United States, Monthly Winner, Youth competition, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

JUNIOR COMPETITION SHORTLIST

The Youth Competition short-list was composed of the winners of seven categories with different themes, which were updated monthly from June through December 2021. The Youth Competition was judged by Hideko Kataoka, head of photography for Newsweek Japan. The winner will get a Sony digital kit to realize his/her creative ideas.

The winner of the June competition was Elijah Baptiste USA, 15 years, Composition and Design , who presented a black and white portrait of a blindfolded man, emphasizing his grace from below.

Jinuo Shi Zinuo Shi Mainland China, 17, Street Photography captured two women talking at the market. An upside down poster with the model in the foreground adds a certain surrealism to the picture.

Emery Sanderson Canada, 19, Landscape depicts a serene, snow-covered scene with the trail of a solitary figure walking off into the distance in the middle of the picture.

&copy Emery Sanderson, Canada, Monthly Winner, Youth competition, 2022 Youth competition – Landscape, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards

Similarly, Cameron Borg Australia, 17 years, “Culture and Travel” shows another lonely man in front of nature – a surfer catching a high wave.

Rayhan Mundra USA, 15 years, World of Nature & Wildlife captures a brown bear catching salmon from a stream.

Tri Nguyen Vietnam, 18, Portrait uses a street mirror to capture a portrait from two angles in the moonlight. Benjamin Joel USA, 17, Open Competition showed the strength and determination of a national champion fencer.

The winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2022 Student, Youth, Open and Professional contests will be announced on April 12, 2022.

A full gallery of the shortlisted photographers’ work is available at the Sony World Photography Awards >