Best Photography Competitions and Awards to Enter in 2026
As someone who has worked within photography, journalism and publishing since 1997 and spent almost two decades building and editing TheAppWhisperer, I am often asked whether photography competitions are worth entering. My answer is usually the same: the right competition can be transformative, while the wrong one can be an expensive disappointment. Over the years, I have interviewed hundreds of photographers, reviewed portfolios, followed careers as they developed and watched photographers move from relative obscurity to international recognition. In many cases, a respected competition or award provided the breakthrough that helped their work reach a much wider audience. At the same time, I have seen photographers spend considerable sums entering…
TheAppWhisperer and the World Photography Organisation Partner Up with $25,000 Prize Money
I am delighted to announce that TheAppWhisperer and the World Photography Organisation have partnered up for the 2023 photography competition including a top prize of $25,000. Created by the World Photography Organisation, the Sony World Photography Awards are regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious photography competitions by elevating photographers’ careers – from established to emerging – since it started 16 years ago. The Sony World Photography Awards is the leading competition for photographers and artists working in photography. Made up of four competitions (Professional, Open, Student and Youth), all entries are free and the top prize is $25,000. Later this week, I will be detailing how TheAppWhisperer community can benefit from this…
Sony World Photography Awards reveal stunning shortlist for 2019 Open and Youth competitions
The World Photography Organisation today reveals the shortlisted photographers for the Open and Youth competitions of the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards, recognising the world’s best single images from 2018. As one of the world’s largest and most prestigious global photography competitions, the Awards annually celebrate and promote the best contemporary photography from the past year across a wide variety of photographic genres. Over 326,000 entries were submitted across the four competitions of the 2019 Awards, the highest ever number to date. The judges were impressed by the high standard of submissions and noted a wide range of creative approaches, influences and techniques throughout the shortlists. Huge shout out to…
40 UK photographers recognised in the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards, the world’s most diverse photography awards
As a proud member of The World Photography Organisation, I am delighted to announce the judges of the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards today honor the work of 40 British and UK based photographers by shortlisting and commending their photographs as the top 50 in the world in the Awards’ Professional, Open, Youth and Student Focus competitions. Of the 81 nationalities represented in this year’s shortlist and commended lists, the UK has the highest number of shortlisted photographers across the competitions, and the third highest number of honored photographers in the shortlist and commended lists. Produced by the World Photography Organisation, the Sony World Photography Awards is the world’s most…
Sony World Photography Awards – Valentines Offer
As a member of the World Photography Organisation I am proud to promote this Valentines offer. For 24 hours only you can purchase 2 for 1 tickets for the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at Somerset House in April this year. I’ll be there, would you like to join me? To redeem the offer: Follow the link below then click on “TICKETS”. At the top right-hand side enter the code VALENTINE18 where it says “Enter Promotional Code”. This will unlock the hidden ticket “Valentine’s Day 2 for 1”. Click here to grab tickets at this price (24 hours only)
Sony World Photography Awards 2016 Grand Prize Winners Announced
I was delighted to spend this morning at Somerset House, London, host to the Sony World Photography Awards in association with the World Photography Organisation. I enjoyed spending time with the main curator of this exhibition, as she walked me through each image and category. Many of the photographers were also present, having been flown in from around the world. The exhibition sold out last year and this years show features over 500 images of the winning and shortlisted photographers of the awards across both the East and West Wings of Somerset House. Now in its ninth year, the Sony World Photography Awards is the world’s largest photography competition, recognising…
Photography Competition – Sony World Photography Awards – Open for Entries
The Sony World Photography Awards is the world’s biggest photography competition and its aim is simple: to recognise and reward the best contemporary photography in the world. The awards have brought untold reward and recognition to those involved and each year offers an incredible $30,000 (USD) in cash prizes plus the latest Sony digital imaging equipment. Free to enter, photographers of all abilities are invited to submit either their best single shots or series of work. The images are judged by the World Photography Organisation and a specially selected jury from the World Photographic Academy which is made up on the photographic industry’s most esteemed individuals. The awards offer…
2016 Edition of the World’s Largest Photography Competition Opens for Entries
The 2016 Sony World Photography Awards, the world’s largest photography competition organised by the World Photography Organisation, are open for entries. Free to enter at www.worldphoto.org, photographers of all abilities are invited to submit work to any of the awards’ five competitions: Professional; Open; Youth; National Awards and Student Focus. Now in its ninth year, the awards are an authoritative voice in the photographic world. Each year they attract both emerging talent and established artists and presents the world’s best contemporary photography from the last 12 months. New for 2016, the 14 Professional categories are now divided into two distinct genres – Art and Documentary. The change is to provide a clearer structure in…
Grand Prize Winners Announced at 2015 Sony World Photography awards,
The Honorary Jury of the world’s largest photography competition today names American photographer John Moore as the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards’ L’Iris d’Or/ Professional Photographer of the Year, amongst other awardees. Chosen from the winners of the awards’ thirteen professional categories, the winning work “Ebola Crisis Overwhelms Liberian Capital” is a hard-hitting series of images that cut to the heart of this human tragedy. Moore, a Senior Staff Photographer and Special Correspondent for Getty Images, and the winning photographs have been universally credited for the early exposure of the scale of the Ebola epidemic in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia and the epicentre of the deadly disease. He collects…
Open, Youth and Mobile Phone winners revealed for 2015 Sony World Photography Awards, the world’s biggest photography competition
The Open and Youth winners along with the inaugural Mobile Phone winner of the world’s biggest photography competition, the Sony World Photography Awards, are announced today. Drawn from the four corners of the world and covering a huge range of subjects, the winning Open, Youth and Mobile Phone photographers were chosen from over 96,000 entries to the 2015 SonyWorld Photography Awards. MOBILE PHONE COMPETITION Awarded to the photographer of the best single image taken using any mobile phone camera, the inaugural winner and runners up are: Winner – Turi Calafato, Italy 2nd place – Janos M Schmidt, Hungary 3rd place – Ako Salemi, Iran The winning image was chosen by the public via the World Photography Organisation website with6, 718 votes. Entries to the Mobile Phone competition was open for just four weeks and in…
