- The Sony World Photography Awards announces the 10 category winners and shortlists of the 2026 Open competition, recognising the best single images of 2025
- South African photographer Kalista Kemp has been shortlisted in the Portraiture category.
- Open Photographer of the Year to be announced on 16 April at a prestigious gala ceremony in London
- 2026 exhibition opens at Somerset House, London from 17 April – 4 May 2026
SOUTH AFRICA, 17 FEBRUARY 2026 – The Sony World Photography Awards announce today 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. Kemp has been shortlisted for her image, ‘Man Outside the Church’, 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 $5,000 (USD) 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 – 4 May 2026, and will then travel to other locations.
This year’s Open category winners are:
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 (Iran, Islamic Republic Of) 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, United States, 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, Photography, National Portrait Gallery, 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. For more information about upcoming announcements and winners please visit worldphoto.org.
OPEN COMPETITION CATEGORY WINNERS AND SHORTLIST
| ARCHITECTURE | CREATIVE | LANDSCAPE |
| Winner | Winner | Winner |
| Markus Naarttiijärvi, Sweden | Siavosh Ejlali, Iran, Islamic Republic Of | J Fritz Rumpf, United States |
| Shortlist | Shortlist | Shortlist |
| Carlo Yuen, Hong Kong | Abdulla AL-Mushaifri, Oman | Cong Lin, Canada |
| Catherine Wang, United States | Ali Zolghadri, Iran, Islamic Republic Of | Dimitry Papkov, United States |
| Eng Tong Tan, Malaysia | Anne-Marie Etienne, France | Francisco Lima Saraiva, Brazil |
| Falkmar Ameringer, Austria | Ben Mozafari, Canada | Jassen Todorov, United States |
| Hanjun Zhang, China Mainland | Cameron Wilcox, United States | Jim Guerard, United States |
| Hui Liang, China Mainland | Chen Zijun, China Mainland | Kibong Nam, Korea, Republic Of |
| Klaus Lenzen, Germany | Chukwudebelu Ojekwe, Nigeria | Lisa K. Kuhn, United States |
| Kong Zhongxiang, China Mainland | Claudia Behrensen, Argentina | Manuel Ortiga Castillo, Spain |
| MD Tanveer Hassan Rohan, United States | Jay Tang, Netherlands | Matteo Redaelli, Italy |
| Qingsheng Sun, China Mainland | Maja Schubert, Germany | Sascha Schernthaner, Austria |
| Ramatis Haywanon da Costa, Brazil | Marie-Line Dentler, France | Scott Portelli, Australia |
| Utshaho Gupta, United States | Sai Ma, China Mainland | |
| Shabnam Maleki, Iran, Islamic Republic Of |
|
Toshio Ishido, Japan |
| LIFESTYLE | MOTION | NATURAL WORLD & WILDLIFE |
| Winner | Winner | Winner |
| Vanta Coda III, United States | Franklin Littlefield, United States | Klaus Hellmich, Germany |
| Shortlist | Shortlist | Shortlist |
| Andreas Kanellopoulos, Greece | Andre Magarao, Brazil | Chung Cheong Wong, Singapore |
| Anita Clark & Paul Wenham-Clarke, United Kingdom | Axel Schmidtke, Germany | Daichi Shimada, Japan |
| Brian Arancibia, Chile | Christoph Oberschneider, Austria | Elizabeth Yicheng Shen, Taiwan |
| Camila de Medeiros Fantinel, Brazil | Easelyn Pineda, Philippines | Giacomo Marchione, Italy |
| Charlie Clift, United Kingdom | He Lu, China Mainland | Huajin Sun, China Mainland |
| Ethan Parker, United Kingdom | John Winkopp, United States | Juan Jacobo Castillo Barrerra, Colombia |
| Hernan Jaramillo, Colombia | Lee Jongkee, Korea, Republic Of | Kevin Shi, United States |
| Mustafa Shorbaji, Egypt | Lorea Hausheer, Switzerland | Lisa Skelton, Australia |
| Sebastian Szczepanowski, Poland | Martin Schmid, Austria | Samuel Round, United Kingdom |
| Tomek Kozlowski, Poland | Oscar Seguel Mangiola, Chile | Scott Portelli, Australia |
| Takeru Marui, Japan | Stan Bouman, Netherlands | |
| Vishal Naveen, India | Tim Munsey, United Kingdom | |
| Zdeněk Vošický, Czechia | Vishal Naveen, India |
| Wouter van Hofwegen, Netherlands |
| OBJECT | PORTRAITURE | STREET PHOTOGRAPHY |
| Winner | Winner | Winner |
| Robby Ogilvie, United Kingdom | Elle Leontiev, Australia | Giulia Pissagroia, Italy |
| Shortlist | Shortlist | Shortlist |
| David Hoekje, United States | Alejandra Valenzuela, Chile | Andre Gaspar, Portugal |
| Glen Serbin, United States | Charlie Clift, United Kingdom | Arun Saha, India |
| Guglielmo Mangilli, Italy | Duncan Elliott, United Kingdom | Bijoy Krishna Paul, Bangladesh |
| Hanhoon Lee, Korea, Republic of | Jaylon Cooper, United States | France Leclerc, United States |
| Jan Goeke, Germany | Kalista Kemp, South Africa | Kathryn Mussallem, Canada |
| Leonel Costa, Angola | Kamil Hendrych, Poland | Maciej Lubomski, Poland |
| Lesley Ormrod, United Kingdom | Katarzyna Lakocy, Poland | Mariana Zilbershteyn, Australia |
| Olivier Koestel, France | Livier Miroslava Ultreras, Mexico | Mattia Massaiu, Italy |
| Sarah Barlow, United Kingdom | Luis Alejandro Dávila López, Spain | Otto David Ramírez Villa, Mexico |
| Soomin Park, Korea, Republic Of |
Maria Gutu, Moldova, Republic Of |
Paolo Dellepiane, Italy |
| Yuliy Vasilev, Bulgaria | Mondo Love, United Kingdom | Rodrigo Paredes, Argentina |
| Shuyang Zhuang, China Mainland | Rudi Uran, Slovenia |
| Tim Pearse, United Kingdom |
| TRAVEL | ||
| Winner | ||
| Megumi Murakami, Japan | ||
| Shortlist | ||
| ChenYu Hsieh, Taiwan | ||
| David Sykes, United Kingdom | ||
| Filip Hrebenda, Slovakia | ||
| Jet Huynh, Vietnam | ||
| John Edwards, United States | ||
| Liping Jiang, China Mainland | ||
| Marie-Line Dentler, France | ||
| Megan Tavarez, United States | ||
| Sawyer Alcázar-Hagen, United States |
| Swati Biswas Guha, India |
SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS
Produced by Creo under its photography strand the World Photography Organisation, the internationally acclaimed Sony World Photography Awards are one of the most important fixtures in the global photographic calendar. Now in its 19th year, the free-to-enter Awards are a global voice for photography and provide a vital insight into contemporary photography today. For both established and emerging artists, the Awards offer world-class opportunities for exposure of their work. The Awards additionally recognise the world’s most influential artists working in the medium through the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award; the acclaimed photographer Joel Meyerowitz is the 2026 recipient of this award, joining a distinguished list of iconic names including William Eggleston (2013), Mary Ellen Mark (2014), Martin Parr (2017), Graciela Iturbide (2021), Edward Burtynsky (2022), Sebastião Salgado (2024) and Susan Meiselas (2025). The Awards showcase the works of winning and shortlisted photographers at a prestigious annual exhibition at Somerset House, London. worldphoto.org/exhibition
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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. The Sony World Photography Awards is the World Photography Organisation’s principal programme. Established in 2007, it is one of the world’s biggest and
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