The World Photography Organisation has announced the submissions for the fourteenth edition of the Sony World Photography Awards from July 1, 2020.
Entry to the Awards is completely free and photographers will be judged anonymously by a panel of industry leading judges. Photographers can register themselves in the competition using their Facebook, Weibo or Google accounts and upload images via their Instagram accounts.
Photographers worldwide have been invited to participate in the 4 categories, namely, Professional, Open, Youth and Student. The Awards programme will also reward local photographic talent.
The organisation has introduced new categories across the Professional, Youth and Open categories and a refreshed theme for the Student competition.
In the Professional competition, a new category for single images has been introduced, titled Portfolio, in which, photographers are requested to submit 5-10 images, depicting their quality and technical skills. The Architecture category has been expanded to include ‘Design’, giving photographers the option to showcase exteriors and urban landscapes alongside interiors. The Open competition will feature two new categories, i.e. Lifestyle and Object. While the ‘Lifestyle’ category will feature editorial, fashion or family images, the ‘Object’ category will present images depicting inanimate subject matters.
The Youth competition monthly themes have also been updated and now includes themes such as ‘Composition and Design’ for the month of July, ‘Culture’ for August, ‘Natural World & Wildlife’ for September, ‘Street Life’ for October, ‘People’ for November and ‘Show Us Your World’ for December.
As for the first brief in the Student competition, entrants will be asked to submit images under the theme of ‘Building a Better Future’, showcasing stories of people working towards creating a better future for all.
The deadlines for submission for the 4 competitions are:
Professional: 14 January, 2021
Open: 7 January, 2021
Youth: each monthly theme will run from the first day of the month to the last (1 July – 31 December, 2021).
Student: 30 November, 2020 (first brief)
All the winners from the Professional, Open, Youth and Student competitions will receive digital imaging equipment from Sony. Additionally, cash prizes of US $25,000 will be presented to the Photographer of the Year and US $5,000 to the Open Photographer of the Year. The winning and shortlisted photographers’ works will be exhibited at the annual Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London, which, will then be toured internationally. The winning images will also be published in the annual Awards’ book.
