Sony World Photography Awards 2023: from concrete ruins to sustainability action

Announced today, the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 aim to captivate and enthral, highlighting the art of a range of individuals working in the field – from seasoned professionals to emerging names and students. Produced by the World Photography Organisation, the prestigious competition, now in its 16th year, was conceived as a free-to-enter event to celebrate imagination, innovation, creativity and the world's most influential artists in the global photography scene. 

As part of the reveal, acclaimed Portuguese photographer Edgar Martins scooped the Photographer of the Year title, for his series Our War, 'an homage to Martins’ friend, photojournalist Anton Hammerl, who was killed during the Libyan Civil War in 2011'. 

The artist said: 'It is a huge honour to be recognised and although I am philosophical about awards and the subjective nature of someone’s choice, knowing that there were over 180,000 entries to this year’s Professional competition is very humbling. In this case, it is also quite an emotional experience because I get to honour my friend on a world stage and bring attention to the family’s plight to find his remains. There’s no award that has the reach of the Sony World Photography Awards.’

Sony World Photography Awards 2023: Architecture & Design

Among the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 gongs is the Architecture & Design category, which this year saw Fan Li from China crowned top winner, for his series 'Cement Factory'. Runners-up Servaas Van Belle from Belgium and Andres Gallardo Albajar from Spain took the second and third places respectively. 

The Professional section also includes categories for creative; documentary projects; environment; landscape portfolio; portraiture; sport; still life; and wildlife & nature. All category winners receive Sony’s digital imaging kit. 

More areas of the competition are Open Photography, which is open to non-professionals underlining the power of a single image (and went to Mexican Dinorah Graue Obscura); and Student Photography, flagging up the dynamism and potential of emerging voices in the field (won by Long Jing of the Yunnan Arts University, China). 

Separate from the latter is the Young Photographer category, which revealed its winner to be 17-year-old Hai Wang, who commented: 'I appreciate all the attention and support the public gives to global teenage photographers. As a member of this age group, I can say that we are trying to make a change throughout the world in a brand-new way, to try not to waste a single second of our lives.' 

A new section, the Sustainability Prize, was introduced this year, highlighting awareness of the climate crisis. Italian Alessandro Cinque, the winner, focuses on fog nets and the way they are used to capture moisture for local residents in Lima, Peru, helping to tackle chronic water shortages. 

Meanwhile, Rinko Kawauchi was acknowledged through an Outstanding Contribution to Photography prize. 

The winners' announcement was made today (13 April 2023) at a dedicated ceremony in London's Somerset House. Launching at the same time is the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 exhibition on site, which will run from 14 April – 1 May 2023. 

worldphoto.org