The Sony World Photography Awards reveals today the 10 category winners and shortlisted photographers in the 2025 Open competition. Now in its 18th year, the Open competition celebrates the ability of an individual photograph to capture and distil a singular moment, and to evoke a broader narrative. Entrants were invited to submit their strongest single images from 2024, and the winners and shortlists represent some of the most arresting photography from the past year.
Across this year’s competitions, over 419,000 images from over 200 countries and territories were submitted to the Awards.
The Open Photographer of the Year will be announced at the Awards’ ceremony in London on 16 April and will receive a $5,000 (USD) cash prize and a range of Sony digital imaging equipment. Selected winning and shortlisted images will be shown as part of the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition at Somerset House from 17 April – 5 May 2025, and will then travel to other locations.
This year’s Open category winners are:
ARCHITECTURE
Xuecheng Liu (China Mainland) for the photograph Center of the Cosmos, which shows New York’s iconic Times Square from above, using a very wide angle to highlight the expanse of the city.
CREATIVE
Jonell Francisco (Philippines) for Kem the Unstoppable, an elegantly photographed collage portrait, alluding to Renaissance traditions of portraiture.
LANDSCAPE
Ng Guang Ze (Singapore) for his mesmerising black-and-white shot of a stream meandering through grasslands into a lake in the distance, taken in Wenhai, Lijiang.
LIFESTYLE
Hajime Hirano (Japan) for his meticulously composed image of a street vendor selling electronic parts in Akihabara, once Japan’s largest electronics town following a period of rapid economic growth in the late 1950s.
MOTION
Olivier Unia (France) for Tbourida La Chute, in which the photographer captures the danger and excitement of the moment a rider is thrown from their mount during a ‘tbourida,’ a traditional Moroccan equestrian performance.
NATURAL WORLD & WILDLIFE
Estebane Rezkallah (France) for The Whale Raft, depicting a group of polar bears feasting on the carcass of a whale in east Greenland.
OBJECT
Sussi Charlotte Alminde (Denmark) for Octopuses in the Sky, showcasing elaborate handmade kites at the Fanø International Kite Fliers Meeting, one of the world’s largest kite flying events.
PORTRAITURE
Yeintze Boutamba (Gabon) for Encounter, a tender portrait of two people shot in the intimacy of a bedroom. The photographer wanted to immortalise this moment for the sitters.
STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
Khairizal Maris (Indonesia) for Celebrating Football Club Victories, which pictures the elation of fans celebrating a win by their local football club by lighting flares in Bandung, West Java.
TRAVEL
Matjaž Šimic (Slovenia) for Ask a Shaman, depicting a group of shamans in La Paz, Bolivia, where they play a major role in Native Bolivian traditional culture, shot against the brightly painted local architecture.
This year’s Open competition was judged by Claudia Grimaldi Marks, Senior Manager, New Creator Strategy at Getty Images.
The overall winners in the Student, Youth, Open and Professional competitions of the Sony World Photography Awards 2025 will be announced on 16 April 2025. For more information about upcoming announcements and winners please visit worldphoto.org.
OPEN COMPETITION CATEGORY WINNERS AND SHORTLIST
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ARCHITECTURE Winner Xuecheng Liu, China Mainland Shortlist Alessio D’Addato, Italy Andrew Newman, United Kingdom David Eliud Gil Samaniego Maldonado, Mexico Hans Wichmann, Germany Jason Smith, Australia Max van Son, Netherlands Michael Echteld, Netherlands Michael Echteld, Netherlands Pati John, Netherlands Radek Pohnán, Czechia Robert Fülöp, Romania Thibault Drutel, France Ute-Christa Scherhag, Germany |
CREATIVE Winner Jonell Francisco, Philippines Shortlist Ana Leal, Brazil Ana Peiró Muñoz, United Kingdom Enda Burke, Ireland Hardijanto Budyman, Indonesia Ian Knaggs, United Kingdom Marina Tsaregorodtseva, United Kingdom Mobolaji Ogunrosoye, Nigeria Rachel Nixon, Canada Vida Khani, Islamic Republic Of Iran Yijing Yang, China Mainland |
LANDSCAPE Winner Ng Guang Ze, Singapore Shortlist Dan Liao, China Mainland Francisco Negroni, Chile KunPeng Zhu, China Mainland Marcin Zajac, Poland Martin Stranka, Czechia Patrick Ems, Switzerland Timo Zilz, Germany Victor De Valles Ibañez, Spain Vilhelm Gunnarsson, Iceland Witold Ziomek, Poland Xiaoying Shi, China Mainland Yoshiaki Kudo, Japan Zhu Yang, China Mainland |
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LIFESTYLE Winner Hajime Hirano, Japan Shortlist Barry Mayes, United Kingdom Emma Rogers, New Zealand Enamur Reza, Bangladesh Kathryn Mussallem, Canada Kevin Molano, Colombia Lucero Mora Ardila, Mexico Maira Ray, Brazil Scott Seager, United States Syed Mahabubul Kader, Bangladesh Wan Yong Chong, Malaysia Yaping Du, China Mainland Yevhen Kostiuk, Ukraine Zhang Xun, China Mainland |
MOTION Winner Olivier Unia, France Shortlist Ahmed Abdallah, Egypt Alex Halloway, United States Antonio Flores García, Mexico Cristopher Rogel Blanquet Chavez, Mexico Eduardo Schneider, United States Hao Guo, China Mainland Joe Wakefield, United Kingdom Leo Huang, Taiwan Nick Alston, United Kingdom Sergey Geller, United States Swee Choo Oh, Malaysia Tim Jenka, Switzerland Tuan Nguyen Tan, Vietnam Wan Yong Chong, Malaysia |
NATURAL WORLD & WILDLIFE Winner Estebane Rezkallah, France Shortlist Anirban Dutta, India Christopher Baker, United States Daniel Hannabuss, United Kingdom Gianni Maitan, Italy Hasan Bağlar, Cyprus Hira Punjabi, India Ilena Fasci, Italy Jake Virus, United States Klára Zamouřilová, Czechia Martin Steenhaut, Belgium Mohammad Anisur Rahman, Bangladesh Pedro Jarque Krebs, Peru Peter Delaney, Ireland Tara Keane, Ireland |
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OBJECT Winner Sussi Charlotte Alminde, Denmark Shortlist Angelo Brancaccio, Italy Carol Santiago, Mexico Edyta Kopcio, Poland Fabi Bick, Germany Ieva Gailė, Lithuania Muhammad Amdad Hossain, Bangladesh Natalia Hresko, Ukraine Oliver Lahrem, Germany Petia Angelova, Bulgaria Rajeev Gaikwad, India Rakibul Alam Khan, Bangladesh Ralf Hanisch, Germany Robert Bolton, United Kingdom Yuting Li, China Mainland |
PORTRAITURE Winner Yeintze Boutamba, Gabon Shortlist Adolphe Maillot, France Elena Subach, Ukraine Emmanuel Lucky, Nigeria Ivana Dostálová, Czechia Mark Harrison, United Kingdom Mark Harrison, United Kingdom Matthieu Quatravaux, France Panagiotis Rontos, Greece Piotr Skubisz, Poland Robbie Murrie, United Kingdom Svetlana Jovanovic, Netherlands |
STREET PHOTOGRAPHY Winner Khairizal Maris, Indonesia Shortlist Angela Magalhães, Portugal Francisco Mira Vicent, Spain Gavin Bragdon, United States Kathryn Mussallem, Canada Manex Sungahid, Philippines Nina Papiorek, Germany Osvaldo Torres Reyes, Mexico Pranto Chakraborty, Bangladesh Samuel Terry, United Kingdom Sean Lim Choon Hean, Malaysia Seyed Ali Hosseini Far, Islamic Republic Of Iran Sohel Ahmed, Bangladesh Stefano Ruggiero, Italy Yusof Salimi Namin, Islamic Republic Of Iran |
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TRAVEL Winner Matjaž Šimic, Slovenia Shortlist Akram Menari, Algeria Arun Saha, India Britt Knierim, Netherlands Chim Oanh, Vietnam Karolina Jurkiewicz, Poland Khai Chuin Sim, Malaysia Kunal Gupta, India Liu Song, China Mainland Mike Hellebrand, United Kingdom Nicola Ducati, Italy Ryo Yamamoto, Japan Shubhodeep Roy, India Spyridon Gennatas, Greece |
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