The World Photography Organisation announces the overall winners in the Sony World Photography Awards 2020. The Photographer of the Year title and accompanying $25,000 prize is awarded to Pablo Albarenga (Uruguay) for his series Seeds of Resistance. Also announced are the ten category winners of the Professional competition alongside 2nd and 3rd place as well as overall winners of the Open, Student and Youth competitions.
Mike Trow, Chair of the 2020 Professional competition says: “This year’s winner comes from the Creative category and is a brilliant set of images which offers a powerful visual record of how deforestation goes hand in hand with the destruction of communities and peoples. Pablo is from Uruguay and this project is deeply personal to him as a photographer. The effort required to envisage, produce and shoot this series is laudable in every way.”
Commenting on his win Albarenga says: “With this important award, I see two victories: first, the opportunity to tell the stories of the traditional communities of the Amazon by highlighting the people who are still fighting not only for their future, but for everyone’s. We need to look beyond the trees, the oxygen and the “undiscovered” species of the rainforest. Secondly, that the photographer of the year award has landed in Latin America, a continent historically told through the eyes of foreigners. I hope that many more photographers from our region will continue to contribute with our voices, thus strengthening the amazing community of Latin American storytellers”
PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY WINNERS
Winning photographers in the Professional competition have been selected by a panel of expert judges for submitting an outstanding body of work of five to ten images. This year’s winners are:
ARCHITECTURE
CREATIVE
DISCOVERY
DOCUMENTARY
ENVIRONMENT
LANDSCAPE
NATURAL WORLD & WILDLIFE:
PORTRAITURE
SPORT
STILL LIFE
OPEN PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
The Open competition celebrates the power of single images. Selected from ten Open category winners Tom Oldham (UK) is named Open Photographer of the Year 2020 and receives the $5,000 prize for Black Francis.
Speaking of his win Oldham says: ‘It’s an incredible compliment to be chosen for this as I’m still buzzing to have made the shortlist alongside so much world class talent. I never dreamt I could get anywhere in the Open competition as the standard is so high and this award will really take some time to realise. I thank Mojo Magazine for the commission, my brilliant team and of course Charles for offering up such a moment. I’m astonished and delighted.’
STUDENT PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Greek Student Ioanna Sakellaraki was chosen as Student Photographer of the Year 2020 for her series Aeiforia, createdin response to the brief Sustainability Now which asked students to produce a body of work connected to environmental sustainability.
Sakellaraki represents the Royal College of Art in the UK and has won €30,000 worth of Sony photography equipment for her institution. Commenting on her win she says: “I am honoured to have been awarded the title of the Student Photographer of the Year. My series Aeiforia enabled me to share a positive story on the theme of sustainability by capturing the landscape as a passage into the night ambiance of the Greek island of Tilos. I hope that this honourable recognition will give me the opportunity to work on many more assignments of this kind. I am also thankful on behalf of The Royal College of Art for receiving the excellent equipment Sony generously offers as it will help other students to realise new projects with it.”
YOUTH PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Selected from seven category winners, Hsien-Pang Hsieh (Taiwan Region, 19 years old) has won Youth Photographer of the Year 2020 for his image Hurry, featuring a street performer who is seemingly walking in a hurry but is in fact standing still.
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO PHOTOGRAPHY
This year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography has been awarded to printer and publisher Gerhard Steidl. Established in 1968, Steidl’s publishing house launched its own photobook programme in 1996 and within a few years grew it to what is today; the largest list for contemporary photography worldwide. His remarkable catalogue of photobooks features renowned practitioners including Joel Sternfeld, Nan Goldin, Bruce Davidson, Robert Frank, Berenice Abbott, Robert Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Karl Lagerfeld and Juergen Teller, to name a few.
Discussing this year’s Awards Scott Gray, Founder and CEO of the World Photography Organisation said:
“The Sony World Photography Awards was established to help get photographers the recognition they deserve with the exhibition providing an important platform to share their work with new audiences. Due to current restrictions with the global pandemic we were unable to hold this year’s exhibition however we are still dedicated to promoting winning images and projects and ensure the Awards provide awareness and appreciation for the photographers’ work. We are immensely lucky that we are able to work with Sony on this activation. Sony share our commitment to this medium and to the individual photographers and together we will continue to celebrate their work and raise the profile of photography as art.”
