The 19th edition of the Sony World Photography Awards is open for submissions, and free to enter.
The Sony World Photography Awards, organised by Creo, is a definitive platform for the celebration and discovery of contemporary photography.
Photographers worldwide are invited to submit to the Awards’ four competitions:
- Professional, celebrating outstanding series of work between five to 10 images across 10 categories;
- Open, rewarding the best single images of the year across 10 categories;
- Youth, championing images by emerging talent aged 19 and under; and
- Student, highlighting 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.
Introduced for the 2025 Professional competition and returning for a second year, Insights is an additional prize element that sees the 10 category winners joining a day of tailored sessions in London with leading industry figures. From a range of commercial and institutional backgrounds, these experts offer the photographers specialised guidance on ways to continue to widen their platform and to find new opportunities to showcase their work; from insights into private collectors of photography, to sessions on photobook publishing, and behind the scenes access to the acquisition process of public collections.
For this year’s Student competition, photographers are asked to respond to the brief Together. Togetherness can take many meanings, shapes and forms. It is a subject rich for exploration. Throughout history photographers have looked at life in communities in both the human and the natural world, considering the ways that individuals exist as members of a group.
This year, students are invited to explore the theme of togetherness from any angle they choose, looking at the concept in its broadest sense. From intimate stories of camaraderie, to big and small communities working towards shared goals, to places and spaces that bring us together, and patterns of connection in the natural world, the brief invites students of photography to consider the innate need for sociality in all living beings.
Images can be taken on any device, shot in any style, and approached from any angle. While creative responses are encouraged, photographers must stick to the brief.
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 (USD) will be presented to the Photographer of the Year, $5,000 (USD) to the Open Photographer of the Year and $5 000 (USD) 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.