A first look at the wondrous finalists of Sony World Photography competition, chosen from more than 419,000 entries and telling the stories shaping our world today.
High Altitude Golf, Finalist, Professional competition, Sport category; Teresa golfing for more than a decade on one of the highest golf courses in the world — the La Paz Golf Club Michael Dunn, Bolivia - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
The Sony World Photography Awards has unveiled the 30 finalists and shortlisted photographers in its 2025 Professional competition, chosen from more than 419,000 entries and rewarding the best projects that tell the stories shaping our world today.
Now in its 18th year, the Professional Sony World Photography competition rewards outstanding series of work, both for their original approach and photographic execution.
In each of the categories that include wildlife and nature, landscape, still life, sport, architecture & design, creative, the environment, documentary projects, perspectives and portraiture the judges selected three finalists and up to seven shortlisted photographers.
Forbes20 Award-Winning Photos From Sony World Photography CompetitionBy Cecilia Rodriguez
“From narratives of community-building, to explorations of collective memory, to empowering stories of people challenging conventions, these works offer a diversity of perspectives on our moment in history,” commented Monica Allende, who chairs the jury.
The recipient of the prestigious Photographer Of The Year title, to be announced at a special gala ceremony in London on April 16, is chosen from the 10 category winners selected from among the 30 finalists.
In addition to receiving a $25,000 cash prize and a range of Sony digital imaging equipment, the Photographer of the Year is offered the opportunity to show hers or his work in a solo presentation at next year’s Sony World Photography Awards London exhibition.
A selection of works by finalists and shortlisted photographers is first on view as part of the Sony World Photography Awards 2025 exhibition at Somerset House from April 17 t0 May 5, and will thereafter travel to other locations.
The free-to-enter Sony World Photography Awards, produced by the World Photography Organisation, are a global voice for both established and emerging artists, providing vital insight into contemporary photography through different annual photo competitions including the Professional competition, Open competition, Student and Youth competition and National and Regional Awards. Forbes30 Breathtaking Photos From The Sony World Photography Awards Open CompetitionBy Cecilia Rodriguez
Sony World Photography: Beautiful Women In Sports
High Altitude Golf, Finalist, Professional competition, Sport category.;Oruro, Bolivia Michael Dunn, Bolivia - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
Martha and Teresa, natives of Oruro, Bolivia, have been working for more than a decade on one of the highest golf courses in the world — the La Paz Golf Club, which perches 3,600 meters above sea level. Every Monday, they leave their usual work roles and practice the sport they are passionate about, wearing the traditional clothing of the Bolivian ‘chola.’
Shred the Patriarch, Finalist, Professional competition, Sport category; India Chantal Pinzi, Italy - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
India, the world's most populous country with more than 1.4 billion inhabitants, only has a handful of female skaters. It’s here that the photo series ‘Shred the Patriarchy’ comes to life, portraying how – against prejudice and threats – some women have rebelled, balancing on a board and transforming skateboarding into a form of resistance against stereotypes, marginalization and reclaim public spaces in both urban and rural areas.
Shred the Patriarch, Finalist, Professional competition, Sport category; India Chantal Pinzim India- Sony World Photography Awards 2025
Many of the Indian women skaters have managed to avoid arranged marriages, while others have gained financial independence and earned respect within their communities by skateboarding. It’s with these simple yet revolutionary gestures that young Indian women reclaim the freedom to imagine a different life for themselves: to be a voice and no longer an echo.
The Chad Olympic Team, Finalist, Professional competition, Sport category Antonio Lopez Diaz, Spain - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
The Chad Olympic Team series follows the inspiring story of four girls from Chad who in 2019 received scholarships from a Spanish foundation to move to Spain and pursue their dream of becoming professional gymnasts.
The girls worked hard throughout their training, with the goal of representing Chad at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Although they didn’t qualify, their story has had a transformative impact at home, leading to the creation of Chad's first gymnastics federation, which already has five registered clubs. With sport acting as a catalyst for change, their story becomes a symbol of hope and resilience, showing how educational and sports opportunities can transform not only the future of individuals but entire communities.
Perspective And Documentary Projects
The Journey Home, Finalist, Professional competition, Perspectives category Laura Pannack, UK - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
The ‘Journey Home From School’ is a project exploring the dangers for young people in the gang-governed Cape Flats area of South Africa’s Cape Town, where their daily commute carries the risk of death from gang crossfire. The project offers an intimate portrayal of adolescence amid stark social divides in a confusing and challenging world.
Yvy-Mara Ey (Land Without Evil), Shortlist, Professional competition, Perspectives category Mauricio Holc, Argentina - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
The ‘Yvy-Mara Ey’ (Land Without Evil) project gives an account of the Indigenous Mbyá Guaraní community of Tekoa El Chapá, in Misiones, northeast Argentina.
These Indigenous communities also inhabit southern Brazil and parts of Paraguay. Their mother tongue is Mbyá, which means ‘people’ or ‘many people in one place.’ Their worldview is shaped by the land, and they view themselves and each other as extensions of the environment around them. They preserve a traditional way of life practicing agriculture, hunting, fishing and spirituality in harmony with the land.
Memories of Dust, Finalist, Professional competition, Documentary Projects category Alex Bex , France - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
‘Memories of Dust’ is a long-term project exploring traditional masculinity in the U.S.’s state of Texas by examining the cowboy – a key figure shaped by popular culture – and its place in a fast-changing society.
The cowboy is a longstanding symbol of North America, and is romanticized as a ‘real man,’ the strong silent type, lonesome, self-reliant and emotionally distant. The myth of the cowboy has played a significant part in shaping an ideal of Western manhood, but in a time of growing tensions between traditional values and modern viewpoints, there is a challenge to that classic representations of masculinity.
As Alex Bex traveled across Texas, spending time on ranches, he learned about the realities, routines and hardships of the cowboy, exploring with his photos, the boundaries of the stereotype to encourage meaningful conversations about its changing role.
The Whisper of Maize, Finalist, Professional competition, Documentary Projects category Florence Goupil, Peru - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
The effort to conserve more than 54 varieties of corn in Peru and 65 varieties in Mexico has endured for more than 7,500 years thanks to the indigenous Quechua, Wari, Nahua, Otomi and Wanka that tend the land with unique traditions, fiercely protecting their corn seeds as a vital link to their spirit.
In the portrait, Janeth Vargas, an indigenous Otomi woman is sitting on her recent harvest of black and purple corn. A drought has affected over 65% of Mexico since 2022, severely impacting corn crops.
Corn is not only a staple food, but also a precious element in pre-Columbian rites that endures today. These indigenous communities use unique and innovative solutions in response to climate change and the devastating impact of severe droughts. Tender gestures, songs and poems become a conduit for communicating with nature and healing the Earth.
Divided Youth of Belfast', Finalist, Professional competition, Documentary Projects series Toby Binder, Germany - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
This Documentary Project series on the ‘Divided Youth of Belfast’ documents the lives of young people, born after the peace agreement, growing up under intergenerational religious tension in both Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods in Northern Ireland.
“If I had been born at the top of my street, behind the corrugated-iron border, I would have been British,” said Paul McVeigh, a Belfast-born novelist. “Incredible to think. My whole idea of myself, the attachments made to a culture, heritage, religion, nationalism and politics are all an accident of birth. I was one street away from being born my ‘enemy.’”
Binder notes that “there is hardly any other country in Europe where a past conflict is still as present in daily life as it is in Northern Ireland.” It’s not only the physical barriers – the walls and fences – but also the psychological divisions in society.
The Best Portraiture In Sony World Photography
Trust Me, Shortlist, Professional competition, Portraiture category; Kazakhstan Ivan Ryaskov, Kazakhstan - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
The “Trust Me” series was inspired by the photographer’s memories of collecting old postage stamps with horses on them. Trust Me explores the bond between an animal and a person, with photographs taken in different countries to reflect the diversity of cultures, clothing and characters of both the people and their horses.
Brazilian M'kumba, Finalist, Professional competition, Portraiture category Gui Christ, Brazil Sony World Photography Awards 2025
“Brazilian M'kumba” is an ongoing project illustrating the resilience of Afro-Brazilian communities in the face of local religious intolerance. Over more than three centuries, some five million African people were brought to Brazil and 56% of Brazilians currently are of Afro-descent. Until 1970, Afro-Brazilian religions were criminalized, and due to longstanding prejudice they still face violence – more than 2,000 attacks were reported in 2024 alone.
The portrait shows Candomblé practitioner Samara Souza making an offering to Yemanjá, the Yoruba deity of the sea waters. In Brazil, she is represented by an image of a white, skinny woman, while in Africa her image shows a corpulent woman with big milking breasts.
Through intimate imagery, this project challenges prejudice while celebrating these spiritual traditions as vital to Brazil’s cultural identity.
The Mud Angels', Finalist, Professional competition, Portraiture category; Valencia, Spain Raúl Belinchón, Spain - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
In the days following catastrophic flooding in Spain’s Valencia region that impacted 80 municipalities and resulted in more than 220 deaths and over 100,000 cars destroyed, determined young volunteers refused to turn away from the catastrophe.
Armed with mops, buckets, brushes and shovels, they cleaned houses, stores and streets; they brought medicine to the sick; food to the hungry; and clothes to those who had lost everything.
Setting up a white background by a long footbridge renamed the ‘Bridge of Solidarity,’ Raul Belinchón photographed the volunteers on their way home, paying tribute to the caring ‘Mud Angels.’
The Second, Finalist, Professional competition, Portraiture. Arizona, U.S. Tom Franks, UK - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
Part of the reason the Second Amendment of the U.S. constitution was written was to ensure that American civilians were sufficiently armed to deal with a British invasion, should it ever happen. Yet, when Tom Franks knocked on their door and asked – with a British accent – if he could see their guns, have a chat and take their photograph, he was invited straight into the subjects’ homes.
The photographer spent more than two weeks in Prescott, Arizona, visiting the homes of the city’s residents to learn about the normalization of gun ownership in America.
The Environment, Wildlife And Nature
Chilean Dark Embrace, Finalist, Professional competition, Environment, category; The Atacama desert, Cerro Tololo Observatory. Chile Cristóbal Olivares, Chile - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
The Atacama desert has been luring astronomers for decades. Its exceptionally clear skies have revealed profound discoveries, including potentially hazardous asteroids drifting close to Earth and evidence that the universe’s expansion is accelerating.
As the night brightens, though, light pollution from cities rises closer to the celestial zenith, the weakening contrast making it harder for astronomers to spot distant objects.
Cities aren’t the only source of light pollution in Atacama. The mining industry, with some of the larger mines generating as much light pollution as a small city, are also contributors.
As the extraction of copper and lithium ramps up to meet soaring global demand, astronomers working in the area worry that the Chilean desert’s status as the ‘eyes of the world’ could be in jeopardy.
Peruvian Alquimia Textil, Finalist, Professional competition, Environment category; Cusco, Peru Nicolás Garrido Huguet, Peru - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
“Alquimia Textil” is a collaborative project showcasing the natural dyeing techniques practiced by the artisans of Pumaqwasin in Chinchero, Cusco, Peru.
The project aims to bring visibility to, and help preserve, these ancestral dyeing practices, which demand many hours of meticulous work often underestimated within the textile sector.
Industrial methods are close to displacing these traditional dyeing processes as climate change threatens the plants and insects crucial to these practices.
The Waiting', Finalist, Professional competition, Environment category. Guayaquil, Ecuador Maria Portaluppi, Ecuador - Sony World Photography Awards 202
Guayaquil is Ecuador’s largest city and its main port, but prioritizing its urban, political and economic interests has had a severe impact on a number of endemic species.
Two of the most serious problems are linked to illegal trafficking and the uncontrolled growth of urban developments into the surrounding forest and estuary. The Sacha Rescue Foundation was established to protect wildlife and now receives a large number of confiscated species that it aims to return to the wild or to conservation centres.
Many of the arrivals come from illegal trafficking but the majority are a direct result of urban, industrial and agricultural expansion. Despite these challenges, the constant efforts of the foundation mean that some animals are successfully reintegrated, although many others await an uncertain future.
Winter Mummy, Finalist, Professional competition, Wildlife & Nature category; Dovrefjell-Suundalsfjella National Park, Norway Pascal Beaudenon, France - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
The musk ox has the exceptional ability to thrive in the most extreme winter weather conditions. It’s this strong resilience to the cold that places this magnificent animal among the rare survivors of the last ice age.
For several years, Pascal Beaudenon has been observing musk ox during the long winter months in the Dovrefjell-Suundalsfjella National Park in Norway, where it was reintroduced in the middle of the 20th century with specimens coming from Greenland.
The series shows the behavior of musk ox during a harsh winter storm, as they attempt to save energy, preserve their body heat and protect themselves and their young calves – gathered at the center of the group – from the strong wind.
The musk ox has been a source of food for the Arctic territories indigenous populations who also use its fleece for warm clothing and tools. Today, climate change and warming are, as for many other species, a major concern for the musk ox’s survival.
Nowhere To Go, Finalist, Professional competition, Wildlife & Nature category; Churchill, Canada Kevin Shi, U.S. - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
A starving polar bear is transported via helicopter at a holding facility for animals that, driven by hunger, venture into towns around Canada's Hudson Bay
Polar bears rely heavily on sea ice for hunting, mating and resting, but are facing significant challenges due to rising Arctic temperatures. Every November, they gather near Churchill, Canada, to wait for the Hudson Bay to freeze so they can venture onto the ice for winter.
However, the warming sea has disrupted this routine. In recent years, the ice in Hudson Bay has not solidified until early December, leaving the bears stranded on the land for weeks with no food source. Driven by hunger, they sometimes venture into towns, endangering their residents.
Wolf Comes Back to Life' Shortlist, Professional competition, Wildlife & Nature category; Zevenaar, Netherlands Marielle van Uitert, Netherlands - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
This one-year-old male wolf was hit by a car when he was crossing a highway between Duiven and Zevenaar in the Netherlands. Although the animal survived the immediate accident, it was so badly injured that it had to be euthanized. It was then given to a taxidermist, Sita van Hoorn, to prepare for the Museum De Bastei in Nijmegen.
Hummingbirds from Peru, Shortlist, Professional competition, Wildlife & Nature category Efrain Sueldo, U.S. - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
The variety of hummingbirds in Peru is incredible, with more than 100 species recorded. This series photographs these birds in action, most of them at full speed, capturing split-second moments that were once impossible to record.
Dwarf Crocodiles, Shortlist, Professional competition, Wildlife & Nature category; Congo Thomas Nicolon, France - Sony World Photography Awards 2025
The Congo dwarf crocodile is a protected species, but traditional hunting is still allowed for local consumption at Lake Télé Community Reserve in the Republic of Congo. As hunters catch them in huge numbers, park rangers try to monitor the population and release as many as they can back into the wild. These images were taken while on assignment for the Wildlife Conservation Society.
The Professional competition finalists of Sony World Photography Awards go on to the next stage to compete to be the winner of their category and, if successful, to be considered for the Photographer of the Year award. The category winners and overall winner will be revealed at the Sony World Photography Awards ceremony in London on April 16.
See all the finalists and shortlisted images here.
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"https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2025/03/02/20-great-professional-photos-finalists-of-sony-world-photography-awards/">Cecilia Rodriguez,Senior Contributor,Sony World Photography