Open, You and Mobile Phone winners revealed for 05 Sony World Photography Awards, the world s biggest photography competition

Winning images to be shown at Somerset House, London 24 April - 10 May

Inaugural Mobile Phone Award winner chosen by the public with a staggering 6,718 votes

Images available at press.worldphoto.org or Image.net

EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.01 BST ON TUESDAY 31st MARCH: 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 Sony World Photography Awards.

The achievement of each of the 14 winners is extraordinary not only in terms of the competition they faced, but also the fact that these winners are not professional photographers; instead they are simply individuals who love photography. The youngest winning photographer is Stephanie Anjo from the United Kingdom who is just 14 years old and the winners are geographically spread from Mexico to Malaysia.

The Open and Youth competition winners were chosen by an expert panel led by Sam Barzilay, Creative Director of United Photo Industries. The Mobile Phone winner was selected following a public vote on the World Photography Organisation website. The Mobile Phone competition was introduced to the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards in recognition of the increased accessibility the latest camera technology within mobile phones has given photographers of all abilities and the creative freedom this has allowed.

OPEN COMPETITION

The winners of the single best shot from each of the ten Open categories are:

Architecture - Armin Appel, Germany

Arts & Culture - Hector Mu oz Huerta, Mexico

Enhanced - Antony Crossfield, United Kingdom

Low Light - Nick Ng Yeow Kee, Malaysia

Nature & Wildlife - Antoine Weis, Switzerland/ Luxemburg (joint nationality)

Panoramic - Norman Quinn, United Kingdom

People - Saleh Rozati, Iran (lives in Austria)

Smile - Wilson Lee, Hong Kong

Split Second - Jaime Massieu, Spain

Travel - Yasen Georgiev, Bulgaria

YOUTH COMPETITION

For photographers aged 19 and under and judged on a single shot, the three Youth category winners are:

Culture - Beatriz Mota da Rocha, Portugal (age 15)

Environment - Yong Lin Tan, Malaysia (age 19)

Portraits - Stephanie Anjo, United Kingdom (age 14)

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 with 6, 718 votes. Entries to the Mobile Phone competition was open for just four weeks and in this time over 10,200 images were received. A shortlist of 20 images were selected by a panel of experts from across the photographic industry and public had just one week to decide their winner, in which time over 15,200 votes were cast.

PRIZES

The winners of the Open, Youth and Mobile Phone competitions will each receive the latest Sony digital imaging equipment and Xperia smartphone and their images will be shown at the iconic Somerset House, London as part of the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards exhibition from 24th April - 10th May.

The Open and Youth category winners will now compete for the overall Open Photographer of the Year and Youth Photographer of the Year titles, which will be revealed at the Sony World photography Awards gala ceremony on 23rd April in London. The overall winners will be selected from the 13 category winners. The overall Open and Youth winners along with the Mobile Phone winner will be flown to London to attend the ceremony and the overall Open winner will also receive a $5,000 (USD) cash prize

QUOTES

Talking about the winners, Judging Chair Sam Barzilay comments Judging at the Sony World Photography Awards was a journey of unexpected discoveries. Dozens of hidden gems, playful compositions, subtle commentaries, and fleeting moments caught in time - all speak of the love for photography shared by the participants, and their desire to share the world as they see it.

Adding to this Astrid Merget Motsenigos, Creative Director of the World Photography Organisation and organiser of the awards said: Every year we are astounded by the quality of images we receive to the Open and Youth competitions and our first Mobile Phone Award shows that this quality is in no way effected when using mobile phone camera technology. These talented photographers capture in a single shot moments of great drama, passion, intrigue and humour, but above all each photograph displays wonderful artistry and skill. We are proud to be able to give recognition to these photographers and provide a platform on which their work can be seen by the world. Congratulations to all our winners.

Winning images are available to download at press.worldphoto.org or via Image.net

Please note, images used on social media platforms must have credits overlaid

If using on Twitter please #SWPA and tag @WorldPhotoOrg

For further information please contact:

Jill Cotton, Senior Press Manager, World Photography Organisation

+44 (0) 20 7886 3043/ jill@worldphoto.org

Kristine Bj rge, PR Manager, World Photography Organisation

+44 (0) 20 7886 3049 / kristine@worldphoto.org

Sony Corporation is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, game, communications, key device and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, computer entertainment and online businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be the leading electronics and entertainment company in the world. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of approximately $75 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014

LINK:	http://presscentre.sony.eu/pressreleases/open-youth-and-mobile-phone-w...
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