Entries open for 19th Sony World Photography Awards

The 19th edition of the Sony World Photography Awards is open for submissions and free for all to enter.

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The Sony World Photography Awards is a platform for the celebration and discovery of contemporary photography.

Since its first edition in 2007, the awards has recognised the seminal images and stories that shape our visual language and is one of the most prestigious photographic awards programmes in the world, providing global exposure and new opportunities for photographers.

Organised by Creo, the awards form the core part of Creo’s photography programming strand, the World Photography Organisation.

Sony supports the awards to help the continued development of photographic culture by giving a global platform to today’s talent.

Photographers worldwide are invited to submit to the awards in four competitions:

Professional: celebrates an outstanding series of work between five to 10 images across 10 categories;

Open: rewards the best single images of the year across 10 categories;

Youth: champions images by emerging talent aged 19 and under;

Student: highlights the projects of photography students across the globe.

Additional initiatives include the National & Regional Awards, the Latin America Professional Award, the Japan National Award, and the Alpha Female Award, as well as the Sustainability Prize.

Entry to the awards is free, and photographers are judged anonymously by a panel of industry-leading judges.

Prizes and deadlines

The Sony World Photography Awards is open to submissions from 1 June 2025. Full competition and category descriptions can be found at worldphoto.org.

Deadlines for submission across the Awards’ four competitions are:

Professional: 13 January 2026, 13:00 GMT

Open: 6 January 2026, 13:00 GMT

Student: 28 November 2025, 13:00 GMT

Youth: 6 January 2026, 13:00 GMT

All category winners of the Professional, Open, Youth and Student competitions will receive digital imaging equipment from Sony.

In addition, cash prizes of $25,000 will be presented to the Photographer of the Year, $5,000 to the Open Photographer of the Year and $5,000 to the winner of the Sustainability Prize.

The winner of the Photographer of the Year title will also be rewarded with a solo presentation of their work as part of the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition in London the following year.

All winning and shortlisted photographers’ works will be exhibited at the annual Sony World Photography Awards exhibition in London and will then be toured internationally.

The winning images will also be published in the annual Awards’ book.