Student Shortlist
The Student competition discovers emerging talent in photography, and embraces these young people to enrich and further the medium. Open to academic institutions worldwide, students were asked to submit a body of work responding to the topic ‘Invisible Lines’. Ten shortlisted students were then chosen and given a final brief: to submit five to 10 images relating to the theme ‘Sustainability Now’. The Student Photographer of the Year – announced 9 June – is awarded €30,000 of Sony digital imaging kit for their institution. All shortlisted students received Sony digital imaging kit.
Youth Shortlist
The format for this year’s Youth competition aimed to give more opportunities to photographers aged 12 to 19 years-old. Entrants could submit up to three images relating to a specific theme each month. Running from June to December, there were seven themes including Landscape, Travel, Portraiture and Street Photography. Alongside worldwide exposure with today’s leading image-makers, the Youth Photographer of the Year – announced 9 June – is awarded a range of Sony digital imaging kit.
Sony Professional Grant
The Sony Professional Grant programme was introduced in 2016 to further support and create opportunities for individual photographers recognised in the Sony World Photography Awards. Chosen from the Professional finalists of the Sony World Photography Awards 2019, the latest Sony Professional Grant recipients are Edward Thompson (UK), Kohei Ueno (Japan), Tuomas Uusheimo (Finland) and Yan Wang Preston (UK). Each photographer was given $7,000 (USD) and the latest Sony digital imaging equipment in April 2019 to either create new work of their choice or develop a long-term project.
Sony Student Grant
The Sony Student Grant was introduced in 2017 to support emerging talent in photography during their first years in the industry. Aimed to empower the next generation of photographers, the Grant was set up to keep the art-form flourishing so innovative work continues to be made. Chosen from the shortlist of the Sony World Photography Awards’ 2019 Student competition, the latest Sony Student Grant recipients are Joel Davies, a student at Central St Martins (UK), Sam Delaware, enrolled at Pacific Union College (USA), and Tobias Kristensen, who studies at the Danish School of Media and Journalism at Denmark.
Each photographer was given $3,500 (USD) and the latest Sony digital imaging equipment in April 2019. They were asked to respond to the brief ‘Changing Cities’, where we asked each recipient to show us, in a series of five to 10 images, the greenification of urban spaces.