Judges Announced for 2017 Sony World Photography Awards, The World’s Largest Photography Competition

• Competitions, including new categories, open for entries now until January 2017
• 2017 is the 10^th anniversary of world's largest photography competition
• New selection of images available for publication via worldphoto.org/press

(SINGAPORE, 15 September 2016) – The judges for the 10^th anniversary of the world's largest photography competition, the Sony World Photography Awards, are announced today.

Esteemed experts from across the photographic industry will come together to uncover and celebrate the best images shot in 2016 across the awards’ Professional, Open, Youth, National Award, and Student Focus competitions.

The chosen winners will not only receive the latest Sony digital imaging equipment and fantastic cash prizes, but their works will also be exhibited globally. Most importantly, all winners and shortlisted entries will receive world-wide exposure and recognition.

Speaking about his experience winning the 2016 Professional Conceptual category, Julien Mauve said, "With the visibility you get in all types of media and the people you meet, the Sony World Photography Awards is a major award in any photographer's journey and cannot be overlooked. I really enjoyed the experience, which did not stop after the night of the award ceremony but continued throughout the year."

Created by the World Photography Organisation, the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards will include new categories, pushing photographers’ creative boundaries, and invites photographers from all the corners of the world, of all abilities and styles, to enter their best images for free via www.worldphoto.org.

2017 Jury

The judges of the Professional competition are: Zelda Cheatle (Chair) Curator (UK); Allegra Cordero di Montezemolo, Curator and Head of Exhibitions, Centro de la Imagen (Mexico); Russ O'Connell, Picture Editor, The Sunday Times Magazine (UK); Aida Muluneh, Photographer and Cultural Entrepreneur (Ethiopia); Denis Curti, Creative Director, Tre Oci Foundation (Italy) and Francoise Callier, Program Director at Angkor Photo Festival & Workshops (France).

The Open and Youth competitions will be chaired by journalist and photographer Damien Demolder (UK), who will also judge the National Awards competition which runs across 61 countries worldwide. The Student Focus competition will be judged by a selection of judges including Andrea Kurland, Editor-in-Chief, Huck (UK), Dan Rubin, photographer and Creative Director (UK) and Jennifer Shaw, founder and Creative Director, PhotoNOLA (US). 

Zelda Cheatle, Chair of the Professional competition, said, "I will be looking for originality of thought and execution, clarity of vision – a clear concept that translates well into pictures on the wall or on the screen. Simplicity, good craftsmanship and sometimes its wit, or compassion, ingenuity, luck or good judgement – but a good picture always stops you in your tracks."

Prizes

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on 20 April 2017. Prizes include the latest Sony digital imaging equipment, inclusion in the 2017 awards’ book, as well as cash prizes of $25,000 (USD) for the overall Professional winner and $5,000 (USD) for the overall Open winner.

In addition, the annual PR campaign for the awards’ winners and shortlisted photographers secures invaluable international exposure with the world’s most prestigious magazines and newspapers, as well as the most read websites and key photographic trade titles. Online articles about the 2016 Sony World Photography Awards alone resulted in 14 billion opportunities to read across the globe. 

All winning and shortlisted images will be exhibited as part of the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards exhibition at Somerset House, London from 21 April to 7 May 2017. 

Competition deadlines

·         5 December 2016: Student Focus competition closes

·         5 January 2017: Open, National Award and Youth competitions close

·         10 January 2017: Professional competition closes

The 2016 Sony World Photography Awards received a record-breaking number of submissions: 230,103 images from 186 countries, a 33 per cent increase in entries from 2015. 

An exclusive selection of entries from the 2017 awards is available for publication at www.worldphoto.org/press.

Key dates

• 28 February 2017: Shortlist for Professional, Open, Youth and Student Focus competitions revealed
• 28 March 2017: Open, Youth and National Award winners revealed
• 20 April 2017: Photographer of the Year plus Professional category winners and Open, Youth and Student competition winners revealed at ceremony held in Londo
• 21 April to 7 May 2017: Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at Somerset House, London