© Milan Radisics, Hungary, 1st Place, Professional competition, Wildlife & Nature, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards
With a solo show, impressive cash prizes and a range of Sony digital imaging kit awarded to those who scoop the top prizes, make sure you’ve made your submission to the Sony World Photography Awards as strong as possible before you finally click that submit button.
Before the competitions close, why not take a quick look at our top tips for image editing and, to ensure your submission description reflects your work in the best possible way, be clued up on our nine ways to improve your writing skills.
Alongside our tips above, we’ve asked selected members of the jury to share their advice for entering and reveal what they hope to see in this year’s Awards.
What advice would you give to a photographer thinking about entering the Sony World Photography Awards?
MIKE TROW
Independent Curator and Photo Editor and Chair of the Jury
- Research. Read, write, storyboard and open yourself up to the things you care about and how to go about making the work that speaks to an audience.
- Be self-critical and allow those you trust to give feedback. Work has to be seen by others and listening to what peers have to say frankly about your work is vital. Print it out, think about scale and cropping and don't be afraid to fail.
- Make sure captions are informative, concise and relate to the work and your intention. It's so easy to write in cliché and not actually say much. Photographs stand on their own and captions or short essay form is there to help guide the viewer into the work.
IOANA DE MELLO
Independent Curator and Photo Editor
Get out of your comfort zone, think carefully about the dialogue between the images in your final series, and make sure what you write is clear and with a strong concept.
ERIC SCHLOSSER
Art Director, Tbilisi Art Fair
Just do it. It’s free. And the recognition is great!
MARIAMA ATTAH
Head of Exhibitions, Open Eye Gallery
- Don't doubt yourself. There is a category for anyone and everyone who is interested in sharing work.
- Think about the image edit and what you are asking people to understand from what you have presented, and what is being left to their imagination. Leaving room for interpretation is great but try to think about how much you're asking of an audience.
- Don't try to predict what will capture the judges' eyes. Submit work that is genuinely reflective of your practice and the way you use photography.
What are you hoping to see in this year's entries to the Sony World Photography Awards?
MIKE TROW
As every year, the variety of work coming through never ceases to amaze me. There is so much more personal art photography appearing that is telling powerful narratives with incredibly strong image-making techniques, both digital and on film and mixes of both. As the world inches away from covid and photographers are able to explore their worlds again more easily - both physically and also mentally, I'm hoping to see powerful meaningful beautiful work that challenges the judges with its intention and production values.
IOANA DE MELLO
During the judging I really hope to see inspirational images that are engaged with our contemporary society.
ERIC SCHLOSSER
I'd like to be faced with what I have not seen before. It doesn’t mean life on Mars but work that couldn’t have been done by anyone else but the photographer who took the picture.
MARIAMA ATTAH
I'd like to see projects and ideas that are of course creative and visually appealing, but I'm more excited to see photographs that introduce a sense of curiosity and storytelling. I'm interested in photography that is able to offer a particular experience or perspective, as well as indicating a personal approach to using and sharing visual culture.
