The jury for the 2020 Sony World Photography Awards was revealed earlier this month by the Awards’ creators, the World Photography Organisation.
Free to enter, the internationally acclaimed Awards present a vital opportunity for all levels of photographers from around the world to be seen, appraised and rewarded. The 2020 jury includes a diverse range of industry experts across the museum, gallery, art fair and media sectors. The Awards offer an unbeatable platform for its winning and shortlisted artists to gain exposure and recognition, with past recipients going on to secure gallery representation, publishing deals and widespread press coverage.
The Professional competition, judged on a serious body of work and targeting artists working across the breadth of photography across 10 categories, will be assessed by: Claudi Carreras Guillén, Independent curator, editor, and cultural manager; Touria El Glaoui, Founding Director of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair; Katie Hollander, Director, Annenberg Space for Photography; Gwen Lee, Director, Singapore International Photography Festival and Brent Lewis, Photo Editor, The New York Times / Co-Founder, Diversify Photo.
The Professional Jury will be chaired for the third consecutive year by picture editor, curator and consultant Mike Trow, bringing huge knowledge of the Awards’ history and development to the proceedings. Trow will also curate the 2020 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition.
The Open and Youth competitions will be chaired by Gisela Kayser, Managing Director and Artistic Director, Freundeskreis Willy-Brandt-Haus e.V., Berlin. Tim Clark, curator, writer and Editor in Chief 1000 Words completes the 2020 jury as the chair of the Student competition.
All entries are free at http://www.worldphoto.org and the deadlines are:
• Youth competition: Last day of each month from June – December, 2019
• Student competition: November 29, 2019
• Open competition / National Awards: January 7, 2020
• Professional competition: January 14, 2020
The jurors will meet in London in January 2020 to debate the work, and the first of the shortlists will be announced February 4, 2020. All work is judged anonymously. The 2019 edition received 327,000 entries from 195 countries and territories.
2020 Awards evolve to provide three new initiatives to photographers
Now in its 13th year, the Sony World Photography Awards continue to evolve and develop to connect photographic communities across the world and offer more opportunities to those working in photography, particularly in the emerging markets.
In conjunction with Sony Middle East and Africa, the Awards have also launched the National Awards. Open to all residents in United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and South Africa, this competition will seek to recognise the best photographers from these countries. One winner from each country will receive an α6600 ILCE-6600M (Body + 18-135mm Zoom Lens) worth AED 7,499.
Young photographers aged 12-19 will also have more opportunity to be spotted in the refreshed Youth competition. Photographers are now challenged to enter up to 3 images per month to different themes. Running from June – December, one winner will be chosen each month and will go on to compete for the Youth Photographer of the Year title.
Lastly, a new Environment category has been introduced to Professional competition in recognition of the growing importance of this topic in both fine art photography and photojournalism.
2019 touring exhibition
The work of the 2019 winning and shortlisted artists, including the 2019 Photographer of the Year Federico Borella, continues to inspire audiences worldwide.
Providing a unique insight into contemporary photography from the last year, the 2019 exhibition opened in London to 25,000 people and moved to Spain and Korea. It will now travel to Japan, France, Italy and Germany.
