The World Photography Organization has just recently announced the shortlist for the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards Shortlist. The annual contemporary photography competition includes entries from professionals and amateurs covering a variety of subjects. Competitors enter into one of three divisions–Professional, Open, Youth–and from there, the submitted photos are categorized according to content.
There are fourteen categories within the Professional section and ten in the Open group, which include: Architecture, Conceptual, Current Affairs, Nature & Wildlife, Lifestyle, People, Sport, and Travel amongst others. In an effort to support the next generation of budding photographers, the Youth category has accepted images that meet the guidelines of their Culture, Environment, and Portraits categories.
This year alone had a record breaking 139,544 images from 166 countries vying for top prizes. The selection is said to be the best of the best, revealing the inspiring work of photographers from all around the world. They exhibit unique locations, touching visual narratives, and artistic points of view. These images represent everything from experimental to documentary works.
Winners will be announced in March and April and all shortlisted images will be on display in an exhibit at Somerset House, London in May.
Top photo: Chin Boon Leng, Singapore, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Nature & Wildlife subcategory
Professional Category
Iveta Vaivode, Latvia,2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Lifestyle subcategory
Kacper Kowalski, Poland, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Contemporary Issues subcategory
Emmanuel Coupe-Kalomiris, Greece, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Landscape subcategory
George Logan, UK, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Campaign subcategory
YongSheng Zheng, China, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Sport subcategory
Open Category
Alpay Erdem, Turkey, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Smile subcategory
Hasan Baglar, Cyprus, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Nature & Wildlife subcategory
Wolfgang Weinhardt, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Open category, Travel subcategory
Holger Schmidtke, Germany, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Low Light subcategory
Alison Crea, Australia, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Split Second subcategory
Youth Category
Anna Vadsz, Hungary, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Environment subcategory
Laura Schmid, South Africa, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Portraits subcategory
Anastasia Zhetvina, Russia, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, Culture subcategory
World Photography Organisation website
via [Telegraph, Colossal]