Sony World Photography Award 2017 - For Professionals

Sony World Photography Award 2016-17 is the world’s largest and one of the most respected photography awards for free today. The local photographers who possess the hidden talent are free to submit either their best single shots or series of work. The annual awards gala ceremony takes place in London followed by an exhibition of the winners and shortlisted, comprising of hundreds of photographs expertly curated inside the historic London landmark, Somerset House. This page provides all the details regarding the Sony World Photography Award. There will be 5 competitions that will be conducted under Sony Photography Awards.

• Professional
• Youth
• Open
• Student Focus
• National Award

Top 10 Photography Contest

Analysis: During the year 2015 over 173,000 entries were received from 171 countries and winners were announced on April 23.  Not only the cash prizes based on the overall Professional and Open Photographers of the Year were given but also category winners were selected and were given the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony and Sony Mobile.

Exposure and Benefits

Recognised and shortlisted photographers can avail the below-mentioned exposure and benefits:

• $25,000 (USD)/ Sony digital imaging equipment/ Included in exhibition at Somerset House, London
• Participate in the Exhibition held at Somerset House, London
• Likely to get a chance to be a participant in international exhibitions
• Inclusion in the Sony World Photography Awards book
• Ability to work with Sony on a variety of digital imaging projects

Meritorious photographers can also get a chance to give their top tips on shooting in low light on Instagram, to give an interview which will be seen by millions on the WPO website or tweets about a photographer’s latest show on Twitter.

About Professional Competition

• Professional Competition has been divided into three categories, namely:
  • Documentary
    • Campaign
    • Current Affairs
    • Contemporary Issues
    • Daily Life
    • Environment
    • People
    • Sport
  • Art
    • Architecture
    • Conceptual
    • Landscape
    • Portraiture
    • Staged
    • Still Life
    • Candid
  • The Competition is free to enter.
  • The Professional Award Competition is open to all Photographers entering a body of work- who understands the craft of taking pictures, documenting a story, conceptualising an idea, capturing emotions and evoking a response from those who view the finished product. 
  • Candidates have to submit the entries by 13:00 GMT on 11 January 2018
  • The images must have been taken in the year 2017 and should be based on the above-mentioned categories.
  • Candidates are allowed to submit both Published work and Non-Published Work
    • Published Work: It may have been taken at any point in history, but must have been commissioned or acquired or first published between the dates of 1 January and 31 December 2017.
    • Unpublished work: It must have been taken between the dates of 1 January and 31 December 2017.

All the 45 category finalists will be offered a chance to be part of Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition to be held in London. Their names will also be published in the winner's book and announced to the worldwide press

All 45 category Finalists will also participate in International Sony World Photography Awards winner’s exhibitions. They can also be represented by the World Photography Collection, showcased on the World Photography Organisation website.

Sony World Photographer of the Year - Awards

• Title of “Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year”
• Cash Prize of $25000
• Membership to the “World Photography Academy”
• The image of the winner will be showcased in the London exhibition and the winner's book 
• Winner will get International exposure on the WPO website
• Global media coverage
• Flights to London, 2 nights accommodation in a hotel and VIP tickets to attend the Sony World Photography Awards gala ceremony, April 2017.
• Digital SLR camera equipment from Sony

Sony World Photography - Individual Category Winner

• Title of “Sony World Photography Awards Professional category name Winner"
• The image of the winner will be showcased in the London exhibition and the winner's book 
• International exposure on the WPO website as well as the Winners Galleries
• Global media coverage
• Digital SLR camera equipment from Sony
• Flights to London, 2 nights accommodation in a hotel and VIP tickets to attend the Sony World Photography Awards gala ceremony in London on April 2018.

• The image of the winner will be showcased in the London exhibition and the winner's book 
• Announced to international press
• International exposure on the WPO website as well as the Winners Galleries

Candidates have to upload the image/images to be eligible for the competition, They have to follow the link given below to apply for the Sony World Photography Award 2017  and to submit their images. The entries will be judged between 12 January 2018 and 31 January 2018

• Click to Apply

Specification of the Images

• Size: The image should neither be smaller than 800 KB nor larger than 5MB
• Format: The image should either be in JPEG or TIFF Format
• All images must be saved in the RGB colour model
• EXIF data must be left in the image file
• Candidates have to submit the high-resolution image suitable for printing in exhibitions.

Sony Photography Important Guidelines

• Candidates themselves are the sole owner and author of each Entry
• Candidates have the right to make their entry available to the Competition
• The entries submitted by the candidate should not have any personally identifiable information either about the person who is participating or any other person.
• The submitted entry should not contain any infringing, threatening, false, misleading, abusive, harassing, libelous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic or profane content.
• Make sure that the entry does not possess any material that could constitute or encourage conduct which is considered a criminal offence, might give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any law.
• The entry submitted should not include
  • trademarks owned by third parties
  • copyrighted materials owned by third parties 
  • Names, likenesses, voices or other characteristics identifying celebrities or other public figures, living or dead
  • Entries containing screen credits 

Kindly Note: No animals should have been harmed or manipulated in the making of the image.

The selection of the winner among the participants will be done by the jury members. All the entries will go through various selection rounds, conducted by WPO. The detailed information about the selection of the winner is given below.

• The 10 shortlisted images in each category will be announced before the Gala Ceremony in April 2018.
• The 10 Category Winners will be announced prior to the Gala Ceremony in April 2018.
• The overall winner will be selected from the 14 Category Winners by the 2018 Young Talent Jury and will be announced as Sony World Photography Awards Youth Award Winner at the Sony World Photography Awards 2018 gala ceremony which is scheduled to be held in London.