World Photography Organisation

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World Photography Organisation

A leading global platform for photography. The Sony World Photography Awards is World Photography Organisation’s principal programme.

World Photography Organisation is a leading global platform dedicated to the development and advancement of photographic culture. Its programming and competition initiatives provide valuable opportunities for artists working in photography and help broaden the conversation around their work. Established in 2007, it is one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious photography competitions; celebr

ating the work of leading and emerging practitioners and attracting tens of thousands of visitors annually to its exhibitions worldwide. World Photography Organisation is the photography strand of Creo, responsible for delivering initiatives and programming across three sectors: photography, film and contemporary art. In addition to the Sony World Photography Awards these include: PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai, Photo London and the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards.

19/08/2026

Happy World Photography Day! 📸

Photography has a history spanning nearly 200 years — from the earliest experiments with light-sensitive images to the countless ways the medium is used today.

To celebrate, we’re looking back at some of the key milestones that have shaped photography’s history.

Discover the timeline on our website: bit.ly/wpd-2026

18/08/2026

A man on the moon, Kyoto’s Gion Festival, a pelican in the evening sun…

Our latest Entries of the Week selection takes us from the streets of Kyoto to the landscapes of West Virginia, with photographs capturing everything from a grandmother gathering flowers to the reflections of curved architecture.

Explore this week’s selection of photographs entered into the Single Image competition.

Think your photograph could be next? Submit up to three of your best single images free of charge for your chance to be featured in a future selection and become a monthly winner.

Discover this week's selection of 10 images: https://brnw.ch/21x51Aq

©️ Andreas Kanellopoulos
©️ Vanta Coda III
©️ Cristian Sinisterra
©️ Yeintze Boutamba

16/08/2026

Circle by Dara Petrova

Circle captures everyday life in Ukraine from a local perspective, where everything speaks of war. Yet there is no visible combat in the photographs; only the dates and times reveal the context. This is not documentary photography, but the gaze of a Ukrainian woman who, like many others, ‘feels guilt for surviving, for doing too little, for not winning — and for being a woman and escaping conscription so easily.’

⭐ Dara Petrova's series was shortlisted in the Perspectives category of the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards Professional (now Series) competition.

Learn more about this series on our website and enter the 2027 edition: bit.ly/SWPA-2027

© Dara Petrova, Ukraine, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Perspectives, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards

13/08/2026

Dog Beach by Hans-Juergen Burkard

For around 30,000 years, dogs have been closer to mankind than any other animal. For the photographer of this series, it sometimes seemed that it was not humans who tamed dogs, but dogs who domesticated humans — and both became mirrors of the other.

Dog Beach consists of portraits of dogs and their humans, taken at the North Sea coast in Germany. To create his portraits, the photographer asked his human subjects to tell him about their ‘love for dogs’ and then photographed them and their often revealing and humorous interactions with their canine companions.

Burkard's series was shortlisted in the Professional (now Series) competition's Portraiture category in the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards.

💡 The 2027 edition is now open. Enter for free today: https://brnw.ch/21x4TLT

© Hans-Juergen Burkard, Germany, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Portraiture, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

11/08/2026

This week’s Entries of the Week travel from the mist-filled Bourse de Commerce in Paris and the rush of the Tour de France to a kingfisher’s icy dive, the fire of Qinqiang opera and the quiet rhythm of razor-clam diggers on the Oregon coast.

Explore the full selection and enter up to three images for free in the Sony World Photography Awards 2027 Single Image competition: https://bit.ly/45ldUEa

08/08/2026

Beyond the Rules by Takeru Marui

In Japanese sumo, wrestlers throw salt onto the ring as a sacred ritual to purify the dohyō and to pray for the safety of the rikishi. In this photograph, salt appears to be thrown toward the referee. However, this did not become a serious issue, as it was a demonstration intended to explain sumo rules and traditions while entertaining the audience. The moment was filled with both powerful energy and humor, which is why I chose this image.

⭐ Takeru Marui's image was shortlisted in the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 Open (now Single Image) competition's Motion category.

The 2027 Awards are open!
Submit your best photographs for a chance to win up to $25,000, Sony Digital Imaging equipment, inclusion in worldwide exhibitions and in the official book, press and media coverage, and more.

🔗 Enter for free. Link in bio.

© Takeru Marui, Japan, Shortlist, Open Competition, Motion, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards

07/08/2026

Explore a selection of winning images from the Sony World Photography Awards this August in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Celebrating the Awards' 20th year, the exhibition brings together outstanding photographs from the 2024, 2025, and 2026 editions. Hosted by the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography in partnership with Creo and the World Photography Organisation, it offers a striking showcase of contemporary photography from around the world.

📅 15 August 2026 – 22 January 2027
🕙 Open daily: 10:00 – 14:00
📍 Roger Ballen Centre for Photography, Johannesburg

© Colin Delfosse; © David Sykes; © Sandile Ndlovu; © Aakash Gulzar © Will Burrard-Lucas

05/08/2026

The Coyotes of San Francisco by Loren Elliott

Elliott's series was shortlisted in the Wildlife & Nature category in the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 Professional (now Series) competition.

Describing the series, Elliott writes:
Coyotes were widespread throughout the city of San Francisco in the early 1900s. However, a government-sponsored campaign that encouraged residents to poison or shoot this native species led to them vanishing from the area. More than 75 years passed before they re-emerged in the city in the early 2000s, a testament to their resilience and adaptability. There is now a steady population estimated at around 100 individuals, but co-existence between an apex predator and city-dwelling people is not without its challenges. Generally speaking, though, scientists say it is not the coyotes of San Francisco that are the problem, but humans. Fishermen leave bait on piers, picnickers leave scraps in parks, rubbish bins spill over with detritus that the coyotes relish and some locals break the law and intentionally feed them.

© Loren Elliott, United States, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Wildlife & Nature, 2026 Sony World Photography Awards

03/08/2026

From towering mountains to unexpected moments in the wild - how have you captured your view of the physical world?

See how photographers interpreted the category last year, and share your own vision by submitting your best shots to the Sony World Photography Awards 2027.

© Francisco Lima Saraiva, Brazil, Shortlist
© Dimitry Papkov, United States, Shortlist
© Scott Portelli, Australia, Shortlist
© Jassen Todorov, United States, Shortlist
© Kibong Nam, Korea, Republic Of, Shortlist
© Lisa K. Kuhn, United States, Shortlist

31/07/2026

Thereza by Daniela Balestrin

The series Thereza is born from an absence; the erased history of the artist’s great-grandmother.

Without family records, the photographer has recreated an existence from fragments, silences and traces. Through photography, writing and experimental cyanotype processes, she transforms forgetting into sensorial matter. Photography ceases to be mere record and becomes recomposition — dissolved in water, reconstituted by light, reinvented through gesture. In opposition to linear time, the work proposes a circular temporality, where past and present intertwine. Thereza is a way of restoring life to what once seemed lost and of recognising that nothing ceases: everything transforms into another form of existence.

⭐ Daniela Balestrin's series was shortlisted in the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 Professional (now Series) competition's Creative category.

© Daniela Balestrin, Brazil, Shortlist, Professional Competition, Creative, Sony World Photography Awards 2026

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