Sony World Photography Awards 2017

Shortlist revealed for 2017 Sony World Photography Awards, the world’s largest photography competition
Sony Corporation – Feb 28, 2017 00:01 GMT

Shortlists for Professional, Open, Youth and Student Focus competitions revealed

Awards’ 10^th anniversary sees record number of participating photographers

Photographers competing for cash prizes and Sony digital imaging equipment

Overall winners revealed April 20, 2017

Winning and shortlisted images to be exhibited in London April 21 – May 7, 2017

All shortlisted and commended images available for publication at press.worldphoto.org

“There was a truly global reach to the Sony World Photography Awards judging this year- the images were more diverse and broad ranging than I have ever seen before.In its tenth year, I can confidently say that the Sony World Photography Awards and the fine art of photography are doing extremely well.” Zelda Cheatle, Chair of the Professional jury / Curator (UK)

The shortlisted (top 10) and commended (top 50) photographers for all categories of the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards, the world’s largest photography competition, are announced today. Photographers entered 227,596 images across the awards’ Professional, Open and Youth competitions – shining a spotlight on the medium of photography and the beauty of its art.

Produced by the World Photography Organisation, 2017 marks the 10^th anniversary of the awards and a decade-long partnership with its headline sponsor, Sony.

The Sony World Photography Awards’ shortlist represents the world’s finest contemporary photography captured over the last year, and displays a huge diversity of extraordinary images in terms of genres, styles and subject matter. Forty-nine countries are represented on the shortlist, reinforcing the awards’ international appeal and unique ability to present the greatest images taken by photographers from all corners of the world on a truly global scale. Photographers from a further 11 countries are seen within the commended list.

The shortlisted photographers across the Professional, Open, Youth and Student Focus competitions impressed the judges with solid narratives and strong visual language complementing the subject matters. Within the shortlist are stunning architectural images and subtle landscapes alongside extraordinary series depicting the dominating world events of the last year. Stand out subject matters include a touching insight into the domestic life of women in Saudi Arabia, heartfelt confessions of Chinese school children, Russian body builders preparing to flex muscle on stage and an intimate series of a private battle with a rare medical condition.

Key shortlists facts and stats

Strong increase in entries on 2016 from Asian and South East Asian countries including; China (90 %); Myanmar (183 %) Vietnam (108 %); The Philippines (71 %); and

Hong Kong (73 %).

Youth competition saw a 56 % increase in entries on 2016.

Entries to the Open competition increased 11 % on 2016.

Professional competition saw a 13 % increase in the number of photographers entering their work.

183 countries were represented in the submissions – with the most entries coming from (in descending order): China, United Kingdom, Italy, United States, Germany, Russia, India, Spain, France and Poland.

49 countries are represented on the shortlist, with the most shortlisted photographers coming from Italy (22), UK (18), Germany (17), China (14) and Russia (11).

Armenia, Cuba, Iceland and Saudi Arabia represented for the first time on the shortlist.

Please see Notes to Editors for full list of shortlisted photographers. To view the commended photographers of the Open competition please go to www.worldphoto.org/winners-galleries

Commenting about this year’s shortlist, Scott Gray, CEO, World Photography Organisation, notes: “This year, more than any other, the entries to the Sony World Photography Awards have shown great integrity and are characterized by their considered approach. Beautiful works of photographic art, not snapshots, have been presented to the judges and I am delighted to see that our esteemed juries have chosen to reward the pure skill, artistic interpretation and thoughtfulness of the photographer, rather than simply the subject matter the photographer has captured.

He continues: “The Sony World Photography Awards has celebrated photographers and photography throughout its ten-year history, we now look forward to ensuring that photography has a global platform and is recognised as the dynamic, exciting and accessible medium it is.”

The Sony World Photography Awards are judged anonymously by internationally acclaimed industry professionals, carefully selected by the World Photography Organisation.

The 2017 Professional competition was judged by Zelda Cheatle (Chair of the Judges), Curator (UK); Aida Muluneh, Founder/Director, Addis Foto Fest (Ethiopia); Allegra Cordero di Montezemolo, Curator & Head of Exhibitions, Centro de la Imagen (Mexico); Denis Curti, Curator and Journalist (Italy); Russ O’Connell, Picture Editor The Sunday Times Magazine (UK) and Françoise Callier, Program Director at Angkor Photo Festival & Workshops (France). The Open and Youth competitions were chaired by Damien Demolder, Photographer and Journalist (UK), and Student Focus was judged by Andrea Kurland, Editor-in-Chief of Huck (UK); Dan Rubin, Photographer & Artistic Director (UK) and Jennifer Shaw, Founder and Creative Director, PhotoNOLA (USA).

Commenting on the Open and Youth shortlists, Damien Demolder said: “It has been a pleasure and an inspiration to be exposed to such a volume of great work, and a privilege too that I could share in the personal moments, the joys, tears, life and losses of photographers from all around the globe who recorded their experiences through their pictures. The Youth competition was a special delight to judge and I was touched on many occasions by the openness and fearless expression of the entries.”

Student Focus judge Andrea Kurland adds: “This year’s shortlist helps cement why awards like these are more important than ever. The work submitted was original, thoughtful and brave – a healthy reminder that talent will always win out and rise above the noise.”

The shortlisted photographers now compete for the latest Sony digital imaging equipment and inclusion in the 2017 awards’ book plus cash prizes of $25,000 (USD) for the Photographer of the Year, $5,000 (USD) for the overall Open winner and €30,000(Euros) of equipment for the university of the Student Focus winner. All winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on April 20, 2017.

The winning, shortlisted and commended images will all be exhibited as part of the Sony World Photography Awards & Martin Parr – 2017 Exhibition at Somerset House, London. The large-scale exhibition will open April 21 and will feature rarely seen work by Martin Parr, recipient of the awards’ Outstanding Contribution to Photography prize. The exhibition will run in London until May 7 and will then go on a worldwide tour. Exhibition tickets are available via www.worldphoto.org/2017exhibition

All shortlisted and commended images are available to download for publication at www.worldphoto.org/press

NOTES TO EDITORS

227,596 images were submitted to the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards across all competitions

oProfessional competition: 110,270 entries

oOpen competition: 105,692 entries

oYouth: 11,634 entries

Sony World Photography Awards forthcoming announcements

March 28, 2017 – Open and National Award winners announced

April 20, 2017 – Photographer of the Year plus Professional category winners and Open, Youth and Student Focus Photographers of the Year revealed at ceremony held in London

April 21 – May 7, 2017 – Sony World Photography Awards & Martin Parr – 2017 Exhibition at Somerset House, London

SHORTLISTED PHOTOGRAPHERS

PROFESSIONAL CATEGORIES

Rewarding the best body of work across 10 categories. Up to 10 photographers shortlisted in each category. Category winners will be announced April 20, alongside the Photographer of the Year chosen from the ten category winners.

Architecture

Adi Bulboacă, Romania

Alessandro Piredda, Italy

Alissa Everett, US (based in Kenya)

Diego Mayon, Italy

Dongni, China

Julien Chatelin, France

Marvin Systermans, Germany

Zsolt Hlinka, Hungary

Conceptual

Alexander Anufriev, Russia

Carla Sutera Sardo, Italy

Jeroen De Wandel, Belgium

João San, Brazil

Sabine Cattaneo, Switzerland

Gao Peng, China

Contemporary Issues

Amber Bracken, Canada

Andrea Foligni, Italy

Danial Khodaie, Iran

Javier Arcenillas, Spain

Li Song, China

Lorenzo Maccotta, Italy

Tasneem Alsultan, Saudi Arabia

Current Affairs & News

Alessio Romenzi, Italy

Asger Ladefoged, Denmark

Ivor Prickett, Ireland

Javier Arcenillas, Spain

Joe Raedle, US

Karl Mancini, Italy

Paşa İmrek, Turkey

Sebastian Castañeda, Peru

Daily Life

Alice Cannara Malan, Italy

Asger Ladefoged, Denmark

Christina Simons, Iceland (based in Australia)

Ioana Moldovan, Romania

Majlend Bramo, Italy

Michael Tummings, UK

Nader Saadallah, Egypt

Sandra Hoyn, Germany

Toby Binder, Germany

Yulia Grigoryants, Armenia

Landscape

Dino Kuznik, Slovenia

Frederik Buyckx, Belgium

Jayanta Roy, India

Kurt Tong, UK

Peter Franck, Germany

Tom Jacobi, Germany

Natural World 

Ami Vitale, US

Christian Vizl, Mexico

Esther Whyatt, UK

Felicity McCabe, UK

Mariusz Prusaczyk, Poland

Tommaso Rada, Italy (based in Brazil)

Will Burrard-Lucas, UK

Portraiture 

Craig Easton, UK

Dario Mitidieri, Italy

George Mayer, Russia

Giulia Piermartiri & Edoardo Delille, Italy

Mahesh Shantaram, India

Romina Ressia, Argentina

Ren shi Chen, China

Snezhana von Buedingen, Russia (based in Germany)

Sport 

Andrea Rossato, Italy

Eduard Korniyenko, Russia

Jason O’Brien, Australia

Mark Gong, US

Yuan Peng, China

Luo Pin Xi, China

Still Life

Ansgar Sollmann, Germany

Julien Caïdos, France

Christoffer Askman, Denmark

Grant Hegedus, UK

Henry Agudelo, Colombia

Paul Sanders, UK

Shinya Masuda, Japan

OPEN CATEGORIES

Rewarding the best single images across 10 categories. Up to 10 photographers shortlisted in each category. Category winners will be announced March 28, and Open Photographer of the Year revealed April 20.

Shortlist

Architecture

Barry Tweedy-Rycroft, UK

Claudio Cantonetti, Italy

Frank Machalowski, Germany

Franklin Neto, Brazil (based in Portugal)

Lester Koh Meng Hua, Singapore

Nick Frank, Germany

Oscar Lopez, Germany

Robert Walker, UK

Tim Cornbill, UK

Ute Scherhag, Germany

Culture

Beniamino Pisati, Italy

Emrah Karakoç, Turkey Jianguo Gong, China

Mark Languido Vicente, Philippines (based in Kuwait)

Michal Plachta, Poland

Paweł Jędrusik, Poland

Foley Hits, Malaysia

Radu Dumitrescu-Elian, Romania

Salvatore Mazzeo, Italy

Vito Leone, Italy

Enhanced

Alex Andriesi, Romania (based in France)

Andrea Torres Balaguer, Spain

Tong Chun Kin, TOMY, Hong Kong

Gil Josquin, Brazil

Harry Botley,UK

John Chen, China

Julian Schievelkamp, Germany

Lise Johansson, Denmark

Sergey Dibtsev, Russia

Yong Lin Tan, Malaysia

Motion 

Jimmy Reid, UK

Olga Sinenko, Russia (based in Ukraine)

K. W. Hon (OqWing), Hong Kong

Argus Paul Estabrook, US (based in South Korea)

Gül Yıldız, Turkey

Stacy Anguiano Cain, Mexico (based in the US)

Mariusz Stanosz, Poland

Oktay Subaşi, Turkey

Camilo Diaz, Colombia

Luigi Panico, Italy

Nature 

Francesco Russo, Italy

Miyono Okamoto, Japan

Hiroshi Tanita, Japan

Christina Roemmelt, Germany (based in Austria)

Ann Ric, Malaysia

Sorin Rechitan, Romania

Josselin Cornou, France (based in Australia)

Sakuma Masayasu, Japan

Elzbieta Kurowska, Canada

Maximilian Conrad, Germany

Portraits 

Dalibor Tomic, Serbia

Carl Jeffers, UK

Saeid Moridi, Iran

Alexey Munich, Russia

Carloman Macidiano Céspedes Riojas, Peru (based in Argentina)

Anisleidy Martínez Fonseca, Cuba (based in the Netherlands)

Alexander Vinogradov, Russia

Tim Topple, UK

Fajar Kristianto, Indonesia

Tadas Kazakevicius, Lithuania

Still Life

Nick Pershai, Belarus

Gijs van den Berg, Netherlands

Zani Arkadina, Ukraine (based in Germany)

Sergey Dibtsev, Russia

Iwona Czubek, Poland

Maxim Korotchenko, Russia

Wilson Lee, Hong Kong

Esthaem, Austria

AndrésGallardo Albajar, Spain (based in Estonia)

Massimiliano Balo’, Italy (based in the UK)

Street Photography

Caio Vita, Brazil (based in the Netherlands)

Jelena Janković , Serbia

Jian Seng Soh, Malaysia (based in Ireland)

Gimmi Corvaro, Italy

Constantinos Sofikitis, Greece

Ge Wang, China

Dina Alfasi, Israel

Hendra Permana, Indonesia

Ash, Japan

Tavepong Pratoomwong, Thailand

Travel

Jose Maria Perez Nuñez, Argentina

Stéphane Couture, Canada (based in the US)

Rob Wilson, Canada

Placido Faranda, Italy (based in Switzerland)

Zhu Jianxing, China

Vladimir Zhoga, Russia

Ralph Gräf, Germany

Swapnil Deshpande, India

Achim Thomae, Germany

Fanjing Lu, Chinese

Wildlife

Andreas Hemb, Sweden

Alessandra Meniconzi, Switzerland

Jan Ryser, Switzerland

Eugene Kitsios, Netherlands (shortlisted twice)

Fan Chen, China

Bar Kaufman, Israel

Natsumi Handa, Japan

Nigel Hodson, UK

Commended

For the full list of commended photographers in the Open competition (up to 40 per category) please go to www.worldphoto.org/winners-galleries

YOUTH COMPETITION

Photographers aged 12-19 were asked to respond to a theme of ‘beauty’ with a single image. The Youth Photographer of the Year will be announced April 20.

Helen Kiparissa, Greece 

Bella Wong, China (based in the UK) 

Andrej Kiripolský, Slovakia 

Taciu Rares, Romania 

Katelyn Wang, US

Iryna Sylinnyk, Ukraine 

Yujia Dou, China

Tanya Chinareva, Russia

Frederik Marks, Germany

Johnathan D. Chen, US

STUDENT FOCUS

Open to all students worldwide studying photography. The Student Photographer of the Year will be announced April 20.

Shravya Kag, School of Visual Arts, US, (Indian nationality)

Tatsuki Katayama, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Japan

Stewart Main, Edinburgh Napier University, UK

Ruby Gaunt, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Cole Ndelu, Stellenbosch Academy of Design & Photography, South Africa

Nursyafiqah Azlan, Multimedia University, Malaysia

Nadine Hackemer, Nuremberg Institute of Technology Georg-Simon-Ohm Faculty of Design, Germany

Sarah Schrimpf, Academy of Fine Arts Munich, Germany

Michelle Daiana Gentile, Motivarte, Argentina 

Tayla Martin, Charles Sturt University, Australia

FURTHER NOTES

The Professional competition of the Sony World Photography Awards is judged by an independent panel of industry experts selected by the World Photography Organisation. The headline sponsor of the awards, Sony, is not involved in the image selection of judging of this competition.

About World Photography Organisation The World Photography Organisation is a global platform for photography initiatives. Working across up to 180 countries, our aim is to raise the level of conversation around photography by celebrating the best imagery and photographers on the planet.

We pride ourselves on building lasting relationships with both individual photographers and our industry-leading partners around the world.We host a year-round portfolio of events including: the Sony World Photography Awards (the world’s largest photography competition, marking its 10th anniversary in 2017), various local meetups/talks throughout the year, and PHOTOFAIRS, International Art Fairs Dedicated to Photography, with destinations in Shanghai and San Francisco.