After receiving a record-breaking 350,000 submissions, the Sony World Photography Awards has revealed the best single images from its massive 2020 competition. This year’s winning images feature a spectacular array of the world’s most impressive photographs from the past twelve months.
Following last month’s national winner announcement, the Sony World Photography Awards second wave of winners focuses on the best single images in its Open competition. Spanning ten categories, covering the usual Architecture, Landscape and Travel themes, the Open competition includes both professional and amateur photographers.
The winning highlights include an incredible shot from Australian photographer Adrian Guerin aboard one of the world’s longest freight trains carrying iron-ore across the Sahara; an impeccably composed snap of an old power station being demolished, from UK photographer Alec Connah; and a sublime image of a solitary iceberg in Greenland.
Antoine Veling’s surreal photograph of Iggy Pop during a 2019 concert in the Sydney Opera House won the Culture category. Veling’s snap turns a moment of genuine spontaneity, when the audience were invited up to dance on the stage, into something akin to a biblical Caravaggio painting.
A large volume of shortlisted images were also revealed in this new announcement, highlighting the impressive depth of quality in this year’s competition. Many of the shortlisted images could easily have won major prizes in a lesser competition, such as Stephen Tomlinson’s gorgeous drone shot of Brighton pier that turns the location into a strange real-life pinball machine.
The Sony World Photography Awards has cancelled this year’s annual exhibition and award ceremony due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The overall top winners will be revealed in early June. In the meantime the organization has launched a Stay Connected initiative, to help support and inspire photographic communities through online activities over the coming months.
Take a look through our gallery at more highlights from this year’s stellar competition.
Source: Sony World Photography Awards