2026 Sony World Photography Awards Professional Finalists & Shortlists Revealed | Sony

The Sony World Photography Awards has revealed the 30 finalists and over 65 shortlisted photographers within the 2026 Professional competitors: a robust showcase of visible storytelling that pushes the boundaries of latest images. Celebrating almost 20 years of photographic excellence, the Professional competitors champions photographers whose daring our bodies of labor mix mastery of the craft with narrative imaginative and prescient.

Across this yr’s competitions, over 430,000 photos from over 200 international locations and territories have been submitted.

The 10 class winners are chosen from the 30 finalists and introduced at a particular ceremony in London on April 16. The recipient of the celebrated Photographer of the Year title, is chosen from the class winners and introduced on the identical night time, receiving a $25,000 (USD) money prize, a spread of Sony Digital Imaging tools, in addition to the chance to point out their work in a solo presentation at subsequent yr’s London exhibition. The winners and finalists are moreover invited to London for Insights, a day of tailor-made classes with main trade figures, providing specialised steering on methods to proceed increasing their platform.

A number of works by finalist and shortlisted photographers is first on view as a part of the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 exhibition at Somerset House, London, from April 17 – May 4, 2026, and journey to different places after.

Sony World Photography Awards 2026 finalist photographers and their initiatives together with shortlisted photographers embody:

Architecture & Design

Everyday Structures by André Tezza (Brazil) shines a light-weight on the modest structure of neighbourhood grocery shops in southern Brazil. In Homes of Haor Joy Saha (Bangladesh) paperwork the vernacular structure of Bangladesh’s Haor area, the place properties are constructed on raised mounds that turn into islands through the monsoon. Chen Liang’s (China Mainland) collection explores watchtowers in Jiangmen, in China’s Guangdong Province, a novel mix of Chinese and worldwide architectural influences.

Copyright: © André Tezza, Brazil, Finalist, Professional Competition, Architecture & Design, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Joy Saha, Bangladesh, Finalist, Professional Competition, Architecture & Design, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Chen Liang, China Mainland, Finalist, Professional Competition, Architecture & Design, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Shortlist: Cristopher Rogel Blanquet Chavez, Mexico; Farshid Rahimi Kalahroudi, Iran, Islamic Republic Of; Jean-Marc Caimi & Valentina Piccinni, Italy Mathieu Moindron, France; Peter Lipton, Netherlands; Stephan Zirwes, Germany; Tomasz Kawecki, Poland

Creative

The Black Album by Pablo Ramos (Mexico) explores Mexico’s disappeared by silhouettes minimize from archival pictures, remodeling the photographs right into a haunting collective portrait of absence. In The Palm, On Piru Ben Brooks (United Kingdom) depicts the non secular connections and collective identities of rappers from South Los Angeles. In Bilha, Stories of My Sisters, photographer Citlali Fabian (Mexico) makes use of a mixture of portraits and digital illustrations to deliver to life the tales of inspiring ladies in southern Mexico, collaborating with activists and artists from Indigenous communities within the area.

Copyright: © Pablo Ramos, Mexico, Finalist, Professional Competition, Creative, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Ben Brooks, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional Competition, Creative, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Citlali Fabian, Mexico, Finalist, Professional Competition, Creative, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Shortlist: Abbey Hepner, United States; Armin Graca, Bosnia And Herzegovina Daniela Balestrin, Brazil; Persia Campbell, Mexico; Sarah Ketelaars, United Kingdom; Sergio Meléndez Cava, Peru; Zula Rabikowska, United Kingdom

Documentary Projects

Santiago Mesa’s (Colombia) Under the Shadow of Coca follows the farmers whose livelihoods rely upon this illicit financial system, and the armed group that controls the cocaine commerce in Colombia. In Sixteen and a Half: Eight Months in a Juvenile Prison Alexandre Bagdassarian (France) paperwork the every day lives of detainees in considered one of France’s juvenile prisons. Colin Delfosse’s (Belgium) collection Restitution explores the journey of African masks between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Belgium, from their authentic use to their show in museums, analyzing the problems surrounding restitution.

Copyright: © Santiago Mesa, Colombia, Finalist, Professional Competition, Documentary Projects, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Alexandre Bagdassarian, France, Finalist, Professional Competition, Documentary Projects, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Colin Delfosse, Belgium, Finalist, Professional Competition, Documentary Projects, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Shortlist: Anne Mocaër, France; Dong Wei, China Mainland Mário Cruz, Portugal; Sandile Ndlovu, South Africa Seamus Murphy, Ireland; Ye Hyun Kim, Korea, Republic Of; Yris Pablo, Venezuela

Environment

Shane Hynan‘s (Ireland) series Beneath | Beofhód, ‘life beneath the sod’ in Irish, evokes the primal significance of bogs in Celtic custom, and the interaction of cultural and environmental imperatives. Matteo Trevisan’s (Italy) Jinê Land: Where Women Keep the Earth Alive paperwork women-led ecological and social rebuilding in Rojava, Syria, the place communities come collectively in an experimental imaginative and prescient for the longer term. In Notes on How to Build a Forest Isadora Romero (Ecuador) explores forests as cultural territories, inhabited and formed by a number of human and non-human teams over time.

Copyright: © Shane Hynan, Ireland, Finalist, Professional Competition, Environment, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Matteo Trevisan, Italy, Finalist, Professional Competition, Environment, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Isadora Romero, Ecuador, Finalist, Professional Competition, Environment, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Shortlist: Borja Abargues, Spain; Eduardo Valenzuela, Ecuador; Hossein Sadri Nobarzad, Iran, Islamic Republic Of; Jacob Paley, United States; Mahé Elipe, France; Tommy Trenchard, United Kingdom; Yi-Hsuan Lin, Taiwan

Landscape

Dafna Talmor’s (United Kingdom) Constructed Landscapes stem from the photographer’s private archive, and make use of hand-printed and collaged color negatives, reconfigured into abstracted panorama representations. Andreas Secci’s (Germany) collection presents summary landscapes fashioned by aerial views of oyster farms on the French coast of Normandy and Brittany. Michael Blann (United Kingdom) makes use of photopolymer etching to depict iconic European mountain roads.

Copyright: © Dafna Talmor, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional Competition, Landscape, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Andreas Secci, Germany, Finalist, Professional Competition, Landscape, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Michael Blann, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional Competition, Landscape, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Shortlist: Daniel Clavería, Chile; David Baxter III, United States; Florian Ruiz, France; Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist, Sweden; Liam Man, United Kingdom; Nathalie Ericson, Sweden; Peter Franck, Germany

Perspectives

Living Photographs by Hayate Kurisu (Japan) paperwork the expertise of the photographer and his spouse, following the loss of a kid to stillbirth, and the times spent collectively as a household earlier than the cremation. In Fredrik Lerneryd’s (Sweden) Country Music in Kenya, the photographer captures the International Cowboy Day pageant in Nairobi, a significant occasion for nation music followers in Kenya. Seungho Kim’s (Korea, Republic Of) Sunny Side Up: A Portrait of the Most Average Okay-Parenting Today turns the lens on the photographer’s household, to seize the pleasant pandemonium of his family – the place mother and father, canine, and child collide.

Copyright: © Hayate Kurisu, Japan, Finalist, Professional Competition, Perspectives, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Fredrik Lerneryd, Sweden, Finalist, Professional Competition, Perspectives, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Seungho Kim, Korea, Republic Of, Finalist, Professional Competition, Perspectives, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Shortlist: Brian Mena Laureano, Mexico; Camille Nivollet, France; Dara Petrova, Ukraine; Kanyuan Li, China Mainland; María Fernanda García Freire, Ecuador; Maria Fynsk Norup, Denmark

Portraiture

Federico Borella (Italy) paperwork the Koryo-saram neighborhood in Uzbekistan, as a brand new era influenced by the ‘K-Wave’ are embracing their Korean identification. Jean-Marc Caimi & Valentina Piccinni’s (Italy) The Faithful captures portraits from the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, between the demise of 1 pope and the election of the following; a pilgrimage that took on the traits of fandom. Marisa Reichert’s (Germany) collection be:longing paperwork the lives of older Muslim trans folks in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia the place they’re confronted with the problem of reconciling their religion, their identification and societal expectations.

Copyright: © Federico Borella, Italy, Finalist, Professional Competition, Portraiture, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Jean-Marc Caimi & Valentina Piccinni, Italy, Finalist, Professional Competition, Portraiture, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Marisa Reichert, Germany, Finalist, Professional Competition, Portraiture, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Shortlist: Caroline Gutman, United States; Ed Alcock, United Kingdom; Hans-Juergen Burkard, Germany; János Bődey, Hungary; Ron Timehin, United Kingdom; Shaohan Fang, China Mainland; Wei Kuai, China Mainland

Sport

Todd Antony’s (New Zealand) collection seems to be at ‘Buzkashi’ (actually which means ‘goat pulling’ in Persian), the fierce, historic sport of Tajikistan. In It’s a Dog’s Life, Rob Van Thienen (Belgium) attended sighthound coaching classes, producing a dynamic collection of photos of canine in motion as they chase a man-made rabbit round a observe. Morgan Otagburuagu’s (Nigeria) Beneath the Bridge chronicles a makeshift gymnasium in Lagos, Nigeria the place beginner boxers prepare, removed from the gleam {of professional} rings.

Copyright: © Todd Antony, New Zealand, Finalist, Professional Competition, Sport, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Rob Van Thienen, Belgium, Finalist, Professional Competition, Sport, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Morgan Otagburuagu, Nigeria, Finalist, Professional Competition, Sport, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Shortlist: Alain Schroeder, Belgium; Delfina Pignatiello, Argentina; Irina Werning, Argentina; Luis Henry Agudelo Cano, Colombia; Mariusz Śmiejek, Poland; Qiu Yan, China Mainland; Yi Xiao, China Mainland

Still Life

The Bronte Pistachio, by Daniele Vita (Italy) is a long-term examine of the pistachio nuts of Sicily, photographing them one after the other to seize their distinctive qualities up shut. Gargi Sharma’s (India) Experiments in Stillness explores the dialogue between the article and the viewer, permitting house for a number of interpretations and moments of stillness. Vilma Taubo’s (Norway) Talking Without Speaking is a collection of pictures of on a regular basis objects which have turn into symbols of protest.

Copyright: © Daniele Vita, Italy, Finalist, Professional Competition, Still Life, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Gargi Sharma, India, Finalist, Professional Competition, Still Life, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Vilma Taubo, Norway, Finalist, Professional Competition, Still Life, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Shortlist: Alessandro Gandolfi, Italy; Andrzej Pilichowski-Ragno, Poland; Carlos Espinosa, Ecuador; Francesco Amorosino, Italy; Md Harun Or Rashid, Bangladesh; Ruston Banal, Philippines; Yi-Hsuan Lin, Taiwan

Wildlife & Nature

Wolfgang Duerr’s (Germany) collection WILD was made by a digicam activated by way of movement sensors, capturing varied wildlife in motion in black and white. Anita Pouchard Serra’s (Argentina) collection captures the conflict between the neighbourhood capybaras and the residents of a personal growth in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Will Burrard-Lucas’s (United Kingdom) Crossing Point captures wildlife in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve; a distant digicam lure set as much as monitor endangered black rhinoceroses in the end revealed an array of animals gathering on the forested river crossing.

Copyright: © Wolfgang Duerr, Germany, Finalist, Professional Competition, Wildlife & Nature, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Anita Pouchard Serra, Argentina, Finalist, Professional Competition, Wildlife & Nature, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Copyright: © Will Burrard-Lucas, United Kingdom, Finalist, Professional Competition, Wildlife & Nature, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Shortlist: Benjamin Pawlica, France; Fei Xin, China Mainland; Hugo Hebbe, France; James Ross, United Kingdom; Loren Elliott, United States; Marcus Westberg, Sweden; Sunita Mandal, United States

The general winners within the Student, Youth, Open and Professional competitions of the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 will likely be introduced on April 16, 2026. For extra details about upcoming bulletins and winners please go to worldphoto.org.