Sony World Photography Awards Open Competition: Category winners and shortlists

The Sony World Photography Awards has announced the 10 category winners and the shortlisted photographers in the 2026 Open competition.

Among the shortlisted candidates in the Portraiture category is South African photographer, Kalista Kemp. She has been shortlisted for her image, “Man Outside the Church” (main image), which she captured while travelling Ghana.

Now in its 19th year, the Open competition recognises the best single images taken in the last year, celebrating the power of an individual image to pique curiosity, spark imagination and reveal a wider narrative. Entrants shared their strongest images from 2025, and the winners and shortlists represent a diverse range of photographs: from striking landscapes to thoughtful portraits, and both captivating and humorous scenes from nature.

Across this year’s competitions, over 430 000 images from over 200 countries and territories were submitted.

The Open Photographer of the Year will be announced at the awards ceremony in London on 16 April and will receive a US$5 000 cash prize as well as a range of Sony Digital Imaging equipment.

A selection of winning and shortlisted images will be shown as part of the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition at Somerset House from 17 April to 4 May 2026, and will then travel to other locations.

This year’s Open category winners

Architecture

Markus Naarttijärvi (Sweden) for his image of the paper mill in Obbola, Sweden, surrounded by layers of shadows, concrete and clouds, on a dark November night.

Creative

Siavosh Ejlali (Islamic Republic of Iran) for “Lost Hope”, a carefully composed portrait using staged and symbolic elements in a poignant ode to Iranian women.

Landscape

J. Fritz Rumpf (United States) for “Shapes and Patterns of the Desert”, a study of the geometric composition and the rich, warm colours of the Sossusvlei dunes in Namibia.

Lifestyle

Vanta Coda III (United States) for the portrait “Charlotte and Dolly”, depicting a young woman and her cow, resting together in a barn to keep cool in summer heat in West Virginia, United States.

Motion

Franklin Littlefield (United States) for his motion blur shot of a punk concert in Providence, Rhode Island, capturing the dynamism of the moment.

Natural World & Wildlife

Klaus Hellmich (Germany) for a photograph of a blue arctic fox in the Varager Peninsula, Norway. The fox is caught in a blizzard and stands alone braving the wind and snow.

Object

Robby Ogilvie (United Kingdom) for “Colour Divides”, depicting the juxtaposition of a blue car against bright green and pink buildings of the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood in Cape Town, South Africa.

Portraiture

Elle Leontiev (Australia) for “The Barefoot Volcanologist”, a striking portrait of Phillip, an internationally recognised, self-taught volcano scientist, standing atop a volcanic rock bomb on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu.

Street Photography

Giulia Pissagroia (Italy) for “Between the Lines”, a candid, comedic black-and-white photograph of a family at Ørnevegen (Eagle Road), Norway, showing their humorous facial expressions as they admire the view.

Travel

Megumi Murakami (Japan) for a glowing photograph capturing the lively Abare Festival, where men leap into the river as torches blaze – a traditional celebration passed down for over three centuries in the Noto region of Japan.

This year’s Open competition was judged by Ruby Rees-Sheridan, assistant curator of Photography at the National Portrait Gallery in the UK.

The overall winners in the Student, Youth, Open and Professional competitions of the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 will be announced on 16 April 2026.