Sony World Photography Awards announces stunning 2020 shortlists and finalists from all over the world

Feb 12, 2020 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment

© Jon Enoch, UK, Professional competition, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA) has shared with DIYP some of the most stunning 2020 entries so far. But finalists and shortlisted images of the Professional competition have now been officially announced, and they’re nothing less amazing than the photos we’re used to seeing at this contest. We bring you a selection of finalists and shortlisted photos, along with some background about this year’s competition.

SWPA is now in its 13th year. When you think of it, 13 years isn’t that long, yet this competition has become one of the largest and most prestigious in the world. This year’s contest has broken the record in the number of submissions. There were more than 345,000 images from 203 territories submitted across the 2020 Awards’ four competitions. Over 135,000 of them were entered for Professional competition only.

The Professional competition covers ten categories and a wide variety of topics within them. A new category has been introduced this year: Environment. The importance of this topic in both fine art photography and photojournalism has been growing, so SWPA decided to recognize it as a new category.

For now, only shortlisted and finalist images have been announced, and I was amazed by so many of them. However, we’ll have to wait a bit more to learn who the winner is. He or she will be selected from the group of Professional finalists and announced during the Sony World Photography Awards 2020 ceremony in London on 16 April 2020. In the meantime, take a look at the selection of finalists and shortlists below. Let them take you on an amazing ride on an emotional rollercoaster.

© José De Rocco, Argentina: Architecture, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© José De Rocco, Argentina: Architecture, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Laurin Schmid, Germany: Architecture, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Joseph Ford, UK: Creative, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Pablo Albarenga, Uruguay: Creative, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Pablo Albarenga, Uruguay: Creative, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Reuben Wu, UK: Creative, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Diogo Baptista, Portugal: Discovery, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Maria Kokunova, Russian Federation: Discovery, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Hashem Shakeri, Iran: Discovery, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Hashem Shakeri, Iran: Discovery, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Hugh Kinsella Cunningham, UK: Discovery, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Hugh Kinsella Cunningham, UK: Discovery, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Didier Bizet, France: Documentary, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Didier Bizet, France: Documentary, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Youqiong Zhang, China Mainland: Documentary, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Youqiong Zhang, China Mainland: Documentary, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Chung Ming Ko, Hong Kong: Documentary, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Chung Ming Ko, Hong Kong: Documentary, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Álvaro Laiz, Spain: Environment, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Robin Hinsch, Germany: Environment, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Jenny Evans, Australia: Environment, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Chang Kyun Kim, South Korea: Landscape, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Peixia Xie, China Mainland: Landscape, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Mauro Battistelli, Italy: Landscape, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Jeroen van Dam, Netherlands: Landscape, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Adalbert Mojrzisch, Germany: Natural World & Wildlife, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Tobias Friedrich, Germany: Natural World & Wildlife, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Yevhen Samuchenko, Ukraine: Natural World & Wildlife, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Brent Stirton, South Africa: Natural World & Wildlife, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Brent Stirton, South Africa: Natural World & Wildlife, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Joan de la Malla, Spain: Natural World & Wildlife, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Masahiro Hiroike, Japan: Natural World & Wildlife, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Raul Ariano, Italy: Portraiture, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Denis Rouvre, France: Portraiture, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Denis Rouvre, France: Portraiture, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Mikhail Kapychka, Belarus: Sport, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Giuliano Berti, Italy: Sport, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Anton Dotsenko, USA: Sport, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Lucas Barioulet, France: Sport, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Alessandro Gandolfi, Italy: Still Life, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Yelena Strokin, Russian Federation: Still Life, Professional competition (shortlisted), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

© Fangbin Chen, China Mainland: Still Life, Professional competition (finalist), 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.