2027 marks the 20th anniversary of the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards! The landmark competition, organised by World Photography Organisation part of Creo, is now open for submissions with some big new developments, including some changes to competition names and new category themes. Entry is free across all categories and is open to photographers around the world of all backgrounds and stages in their careers.
In their two-decade-long history, the Sony World Photography Awards have become the definitive platform for contemporary photography, setting the standard for visual storytelling. With their unparalleled reach and global programming, the Awards celebrate the remarkable innovation, creativity and dedication of photographers across the globe, and the photography capturing our world today.
Sony World Photography Awards consists of four key competitions. Excitingly, the Professional competition is now Series competition, and Open competition is now Single Image competition. Plus, Student and Youth competitions, which champion the work of emerging and young photographers.
The decision to change the Professional and Open competition names aims to bring clarity to each category and welcomes photographers to enter images from different projects into both competitions. The competitions remain free to enter for all; the standard, structure, prizes, and career-defining opportunities are the same as in previous years.
2026’s Photographer of the Year winner, Citlali Fabian, almost quit photography altogether last year but made the choice to keep going and submit her photos, read more about her inspirational work here.
Sony World Photography Awards 2027 competition categories
Across the Awards there are four competitions that can be entered:
- Series: celebrating outstanding projects and narrative excellence, across 10 categories;
- Single Image: rewarding the power of a standalone photograph, across 10 categories;
- Youth: championing images by emerging talent aged 19 and under;
- Student: highlighting the projects of photography students across the globe.
Entry can be made at worldphoto.org. Additional initiatives include the National & Regional Awards, the Alpha Female Award, and the Sustainability Prize.
New category additions for 2027
New Series Competition Category: Histories
This category invites photographers to explore how histories – personal, cultural, and collective – shape our world today, from traditions and everyday rituals to the events and forces that have left their mark on nations and peoples. This category is for projects that engage, explore, or re-examine the past, as well as work that looks at the contemporary through a historical lens. We welcome archival and found image interventions that revisit, re-contextualise, or breathe new life into the past.
New Single Image Competition Category: Animal Portraits
This category celebrates the beauty, personality, and spirit of animals through portraiture. Judges are looking for images that capture the subject’s expression and character, from beloved pets to majestic wildlife and marine life, to reptiles and insects. Photographers are invited to show us portraits that honour and showcase the remarkable diversity of the animal kingdom.
Student Competition Brief: Journeys
Journeys are a universal theme across cultures and languages can take many shapes. They have been explored in countless works of art, fiction and non-fiction, and in photography. For this year’s brief, we invite students to explore the theme of Journeys from their own perspective.
Considering the idea of Journeys in its broadest sense, we encourage students to interpret this theme in a way that feels meaningful to them. From the rites of passage that shape a child’s coming of age, to the transformations that shape our cities, to the small, day-to-day changes within a particular community, to migrations of animals across continents, life across the globe is marked by movement and change. We invite student photographers to depict a journey of their choice, through a photographic series of five to 10 images.
Key dates
Deadlines for submission across the Awards’ four competitions are:
- Series: 12 January 2027, 13:00 GMT
- Single Image: 5 January 2027, 13:00 GMT
- Student: 27 November 2026, 13:00 GMT
- Youth: 5 January 2027, 13:00 GMT
Submit your photographs at worldphoto.org.
Prizes
All category winners of the Series, Single Image, Youth and Student competitions will receive Digital Imaging equipment from Sony. In addition, cash prizes of $25,000 (USD) will be presented to the Photographer of the Year, $5,000 (USD) to the Single Image Competition Winner and $5,000 (USD) to the winner of the Sustainability Prize.
The winner of the Photographer of the Year title will also be rewarded with a solo presentation of their work as part of the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition in London the following year.
All winning and shortlisted photographers’ works will be exhibited at the annual Sony World Photography Awards exhibition in London, which we have named one of the best exhibitions of the year to see, and will then be toured internationally. The winning images will also be published in the annual Awards’ book.
Here’s an insight into the 2026 exhibition at Somerset House:
Here’s some inspiration from the 2026 competition for your entries:
Last year’s competition provided some incredible photography to look at, check out our coverage where you can see all the winners:
- Winner of top Sony World Photography Awards $25,000 prize revealed!
- Photographers around the world recognised in the Sony World Photography Awards
- The best photos from the Sony World Photography Awards – but which will win $25,000?
- See these outstanding images by the world’s most talented young photographers
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