In just a few months, eight experts working within the photographic industry will come together to determine the overall winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2025. Today, the World Photography Organisation is delighted to reveal the panel of industry leaders chosen to select the greatest photographs taken in 2024.
From curators to critics, from Uruguay to the United States, this year’s judges bring their expertise, knowledge and their unique points of view to the table with one aim in mind - spotlighting the very best of contemporary photography on a global stage.
The judging process will begin in early 2025 after the closure of all four competitions: Professional (series), Open (single images), Student and Youth. The procedure is completely anonymous and the photographers will be judged on the merit of their submission - its quality, uniqueness and technical prowess.
Learn more about the backgrounds of the professionals tasked with choosing the grand winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2025 below.
Professional competition
Monica Allende
Independent Curator, Photography Consultant and Chair of the Jury
Monica Allende is an independent curator, artistic director, consultant and educator. She previously served as Photo Editor at the Sunday Times Magazine, Artistic Director of the Landskrona Foto Festival, GetxoPhoto International Image Festival Artistic Director, FORMAT17 International Photography Festival director and she curated Light at Peckham24 in 2021. She is currently curating the Blues Skies Project, a multidisciplinary project with artist Anton Kusters, as part of the V&A permanent collection. The project was shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2019 and exhibited at Les Rencontres d’Arles in 2021. She advises CAMPO.lat, a grassroots digital platform in Latin America, on strategy and programming and also collaborates with VII Foundation on their educational and mentorship programmes. Dedicated to nurturing new and established talent, Allende nominates and judges numerous photography awards and artists’ residencies, and is on the Board of Trustees and advisory boards of Photoworks and the Deutsche Börse Foundation.
Yves Chatap
Curator, Art Critic and Publisher
Yves Chatap is a curator, art critic and publisher whose practice centres on exploring the intersections between intimacy, identity, and photography. He was guest curator for Treignac Project (2011), SAVVY Contemporary (2013), and the Glasgow Photography Festival and associate curator of the 10th African Photography Biennale in Bamako (2015), where he played a crucial role in highlighting African photographic practices. In 2017, he was awarded the ACASA prize for curatorial excellence and from 2019-2022, he served as curator of the YaPhoto Festival. Chatap contributed to the Jeu de Paume LAB project in 2021 and was the curator of “La clairière d’Eza Boto”, part of the Africa2020 Season. In 2012, he launched the Vus d’Afrique imprint, an independent publisher of contemporary photography books and as a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) and the C-E-A (Association of Curators), his writing regularly features in art publications. He is the co-founder of YCOS-Project, an initiative dedicated to supporting artists.
Aldeide Delgado
Founder & Director, Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA)
Aldeide Delgado is a Cuban-born, Miami-based independent Latinx art historian and curator, founder & director of Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA), with years of experience writing, curating, lecturing, and presenting at art history forums centered around photography. Delgado was the recipient of several prestigious awards and fellowships, and conceptualized the world’s first-ever feminist photography collective conference, WOPHA Congress: Women, Photography, and Feminisms, in 2021. She publishes and curates from feminist and decolonial perspectives on crucial topics of the history of photography and abstraction within Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx contexts. She is the author of Becoming Sisters: Women Photography Collectives & Organizations (2021). Prior to founding WOPHA, Delgado created the online feminist archive Catalog of Cuban Women Photographers. She is an active member of institutional advisory boards and committees at PAMM, the Lucie Foundation, the Feminist Art Foundation and Fast Forward.
Vicky Ismach
Curatorial Coordinator, Montevideo Center of Photography (CdF)
Vicky Ismach is the curatorial coordinator, and head of exhibitions at the CdF since 2019, directing exhibitions in outdoor public spaces and exhibition rooms, as well as curatorial research projects and exhibitions with the historical photo archive of the CdF. In 2022, Ismach organised and developed programmes for Photo Days at the San José Foto (SJF) and coordinated exhibitions for the Festival MUFF of the CdF. She previously worked in the production of SJF, and served as a curatorial assistant at Verzasca Fotofest (SW), portfolio reviewer at the SJF and at FFala, Latinamerican She Photographers Festival (BR), and a member of Montevideo's Photobook Club from 2018 to 2020. She directs and edits Polenta Fanzine. Throughout her career, she has actively explored and fostered connections between photography, art, and education, creating engaging environments for artistic exchange and reflection.
Manuel Sigrist
Head of Exhibitions and Programmes, Photo Elysée
Manuel Sigrist is Head of Exhibitions, Programmes and Library at Photo Elysée. As lecturer and curator, he has been working in the field of digital art and cultural institutions for over ten years. He holds a degree in Philosophy, History and Computer Science. Sigrist worked with galleries and festivals on media art projects before joining Photo Elysée where he launched a programme for digital experimentation. As part of this, he developed editorial projects and invited media artists for exhibitions and residencies. At Photo Elysée, he has curated series of exhibitions, including Tony Oursler, Anomalous, #Ukraine, Images of War, Open Books and Richard Mosse, Broken Spectre.
Isabella Tam
Curator of Visual Art, M+
Isabella Tam is Curator of Visual Art at M+, a museum of visual culture in Hong Kong. Her expertise lies in contemporary art in Asia with specific focus on the parallel development and exchanges of Chinese art, Japanese art, and photography in global contemporary discourse. She was the inaugural curatorial team curated the museum’s opening collection display, curated M+ Sigg Collection: From Revolution to Globalisation (2021-2023), Sigg Prize 2023, and organized the hugely successful retrospective of Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now (2022), which was toured to Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain (2023) and the Fundação de Serralves in Portugal (2024).
Open & Youth competitions
Claudia Grimaldi Marks
Senior Manager, New Creator Strategy, Getty Images
Claudia Grimaldi Marks is a New York City-based photography and creative director with over 30 years' experience in publishing and image making. Currently the Senior Manager of New Creator Strategy at Getty Images, she is passionate about helping creators find their paths toward careers in editorial, commercial and stock photography. She oversees Getty Images' Creative Content efforts to work with creators from underrepresented groups to help diversify our contributor community. Collaborating across functionalities, advocating, and evangelizing for team members to embrace the importance of who is behind the lens, she guides the production of visually stunning content that speaks to Getty Images' 25+ year global legacy.
Student competition
Charlotte Jansen
Author, Journalist and Critic
Charlotte Jansen is a British Sri Lankan author, journalist and critic based in London. Jansen writes on contemporary art and photography for The Guardian, The Financial Times, The New York Times, British Vogue and ELLE, among others. She is the author of Girl on Girl: Art and Photography in the Age of the Female Gaze, (HACHETTE, 2017) and Photography Now (TATE, 2021).
