“Autumn Snake” by Hiroki Nose. This is an aerial photograph of a mountain road in Hakone, Japan. The path, when seen from the sky, looked like a snake. Photographed in autumn, the leaves of the coloured trees were extremely beautiful. (Photo: © Hiroki Nose, Japan, 2nd Place, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
The World Photography Organisation, a leader in the international photography scene, has recently announced the 2021 National and Regional Awards winners of the Sony World Photography Awards. This 14-year-old competition hosted by Sony has become one of the most prestigious opportunities for both established and rising-star photographers. The winning images of the National Awards will join the Open winners' images to present one of the strongest winner's galleries the competition has ever seen. From Astrid Susanna Schulz's long-exposure portraiture to Thoedoros Apeiranthitis's almost mystical Greek landscape, each image demonstrates technical skill and unique creativity.
Every year, the judges choose category and regional winners from hundreds of thousands of images. For the 2021 awards, 165,000 shots were entered to the Open competition, making them eligible for national honors. Winning images were chosen from 51 countries and regions—with some nations such as Japan boasting second and third place rankings. This year's judges included Mike Trow, Azu Nwagbogu, and Hannah Watson—among others—all experts in global art and curation. The judges chose the National Award winners through an anonymous process. In addition to global recognition, the winners receive a Sony digital imaging kit.
To view all the winning images of the National & Regional Awards, check out the winners' gallery. Even more images and talented photographers will be honored soon. The overall winners in the Student, Youth, Open and Professional competitions of the Sony World Photography Awards will be announced on April 15, 2021. The Sony World Photography Awards are free to enter, so stay tuned on their website for your chance to enter the 2022 competition.
Scroll down to view some of the incredible talent the judges had to choose from this year.
The World Photography Organisation has released the National and Regional Award winning images of the Sony World Photography Awards.
“Foggy Morning Fishing” by Min Min Zaw. This scene shows a father and son catching fish early one winter morning. In Myanmar, children work with their parents to bring in an income for the whole family. (Photo: © Min Min Zaw, Myanmar, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Foggy Farming” by Thoedoros Apeiranthitis. At 1,003m, Mount Zas (or Zeus) dominates the Greek island of Naxos. One day in early April, I decided to make my way to the top. By the time I was halfway up, the fog had become so dense it completely obscured the base of the mountain, making me feel as if I was flying. I noticed a small herd of sheep grazing peacefully in this strange environment. I took a shot before moving on and becoming lost in the fog. (Photo: © Thoedoros Apeiranthitis, Greece, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Horse Against Black Background” by Michaela Steiner. I photographed this beautiful horse in the entrance to its stable, using only natural light and a black background. (Photo: © Michaela Steiner, Austria, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“First Breath” by Brian Mena Laureano. Sunrise on the slopes of the Popocatépetl volcano.(Photo: © Brian Mena Laureano, Mexico, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Fertility” by S. Muramatsu. This picture aims to represent fertility, with floating clouds, wheat fields, snow fields and the earth. (Photo: © S. Muramatsu, Japan, 3rd Place, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Driving Through the Ice Forest” by Tomislav Veic. After the first snowfall towards the end of 2020, I took my camera to the largest old-growth forest in Croatia. This road runs through it. (Photo: © Tomislav Veic, Croatia, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Sanhattan” by Ramón Rodriguez. Santiago’s financial district is known as Sanhattan – a term coined in 1995 by the editor of newspaper La Nación, when he compared the high-rise developments in the neighborhood of El Golf with those of Manhattan. Over time, the term made its way into common parlance. (Photo: © Ramón Rodriguez, Chile, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“The Mevlevi Dancer” by Abdelhamid Fawzy Tahoun. Tanoura is an Egyptian dance, performed in circular motions, which has its spiritual origins in Sufism. Its performers believe that all movement in the universe starts and ends at the same point, so this is reflected in the dance, with the continuous spinning making them appear like planets moving in space. (Photo: © Abdelhamid Fawzy Tahoun, Egypt, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Light Athletics” by Zdeněk Vošický. An aerial photograph of the sports complex in Nové Město na Moravě. (Photo: © Zdeněk Vošický, Czech Republic, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Street Workout” by Krisztina Kovács. A well deserved rest on a colourful street workout field after a couple of activ hours taken from the air. (Photo: © Krisztina Kovács, Hungary, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“On His Own Path” by Peter Svoboda. A lone cross-country skier ascends a hill. I wanted to capture a minimal winter image that had symbolism and suggested a parallel with human life. (Photo: © Peter Svoboda, Slovakia, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Back to beginning III” by Höije Nuuter. The ball in this image was originally a Christmas decoration. I couldn’t find a pure matte-white ball in the shops, so I painted one instead, then took a series of images in a quarry, and made a composite of them in Photoshop. (Photo: © Höije Nuuter, Estonia, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Moving Portrait” by Astrid Susanna Schulz. This image is part of my series, ‘Moving Portraits’, in which I experiment with long exposures of between one and two seconds, and flash. I love these surreal portraits that capture different emotions. They are lightly edited in post-production. (Photo: © Astrid Susanna Schulz, Germany, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Water Buffalo” by Shreejit Borthakur. A beast from the forests of northeastern India. (Photo: © Shreejit Borthakur, India, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Traditional Crafts: Portrait of a Toymaker” by Simas Bernotas. Ancient crafts are imbued with the wisdom of previous generations, with each nation having its own tales and myths about them. For this series, I captured Lithuanian crafters with a mystical spirit in an attempt to show them as devoted caretakers of declining traditions. This image is one of many from that project. (Photo: © Simas Bernotas, Lithuania, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Astroturf” by Mehmet Aslan. The pandemic has affected everyone. Since places of worship are closed, these men pray on the Astroturf pitch, while adhering to social distancing. (Photo: © Mehmet Aslan, Turkey, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Extraterrestrial Earth – Mars” by Eniz Karadzha. This dam is usually full, but had dried up. Scenes such as this show the effects of climate change are becoming more obvious. After a couple of weeks spent studying the angle of the sun, not to mention a bit of luck, I managed to take the image I’d hoped for. (Photo: © Eniz Karadzha, Bulgaria, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“The Dance” by Sussi Charlotte Alminde. “I will not have you without the darkness that hides within you. I will not let you have me without the madness that makes me. If our demons cannot dance, neither can we,” poem by Nikita Gill. (Photo: © Sussi Charlotte Alminde, Denmark, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Her Name is Chandi” by Sabbir Hossen. A portrait of a child working in a paddy field. She works alongside her parents as it allows her to continue her studies. Her passion was inspiring. (Photo: © Sabbir Hossen, Bangladesh, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“I Miss You” by Sean Channal. This used to be the place where an audience would relieve their stresses and share their excitement, but since the Covid-19 outbreak, everything has changed. The theatre is now silent and lonely. One day, I hope, things will return to normality. (Photo: © Sean Channal, Cambodia, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Luciano” by Dante Mogni. A man rests naked in a Buenos Aires hotel room, serving his quarantine. They were difficult weeks of loss, but he was in such a state of peace… as if it were all just a bad dream. (Photo: © Dante Mogni, Argentina, National Awards Winner, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
“Night” by Matti Virtanen. I may not have managed to capture any meteors during the Perseids of 2020, but I did get this night shot, which is full of wonder. The exposure was 30 seconds long, and shot at ISO 4000, using a tripod. (Photo: © Matti Virtanen, Finland, Winner, National Awards, 2021 Sony World Photography Awards)
