The Sony World Photography Awards has announced the winners and shortlisted photographers for the 2025 Open competition. Now in its 18th year, the Open competition celebrates the power of a single photograph to capture a special moment and tell a broader story. Photographers were invited to submit their best single images from 2024, and the selected winners and finalists represent some of the most impressive photography from the past year.
This year, the competition received over 419,000 image entries from more than 200 countries and territories.
The title of Open Photographer of the Year will be awarded at a ceremony in London on 16 April. The winner will receive $5,000 (USD) and Sony digital imaging equipment. Selected winning and shortlisted photographs will be displayed at the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition at Somerset House in London from 17 April to 5 May 2025, before traveling to other locations.
The 2025 Open Category winners are:
Architecture: Xuecheng Liu (China Mainland) for Centre of the Cosmos, a wide-angle photograph taken from above New York’s Times Square, showing the city’s size and complexity.
Creative: Jonell Francisco (Philippines) for Kem the Unstoppable, a carefully crafted collage portrait inspired by traditional Renaissance art.
Lifestyle: Hajime Hirano (Japan) for an image of a street vendor selling electronic parts in Akihabara, a district that was once Japan’s biggest electronics market during the country’s rapid economic growth in the late 1950s.
Motion: Olivier Unia (France) for Tbourida La Chute, which captures the dramatic moment a rider falls from their horse during ‘tbourida,’ a traditional Moroccan equestrian performance.
Natural World & Wildlife: Estebane Rezkallah (France) for The Whale Raft, showing polar bears feeding on a whale carcass in eastern Greenland.
Object: Sussi Charlotte Alminde (Denmark) for Octopuses in the Sky, a photograph of handmade kites flying at the Fanø International Kite Fliers Meeting, one of the world’s largest kite festivals.
Portraiture: Yeintze Boutamba (Gabon) for Encounter, a touching portrait of two people in a bedroom, captured to preserve a meaningful moment for the subjects.
Travel: Matjaž Šimic (Slovenia) for Ask a Shaman, featuring a group of shamans in La Paz, Bolivia, with the city’s colorful architecture in the background.
Open Competition Category Winners and Shortlist
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
- 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
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
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
- 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
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
Discover more from SNAP TASTE
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.