The Sony World Photography Awards 2027 is an international photography competition presented by the World Photography Organisation in partnership with Sony. The awards are designed to support photographic culture by recognizing established practitioners, emerging talent, students and young photographers working across contemporary photography.
For 2027, the awards include the Series competition, Single Image competition, Student competition and Youth competition. The Series competition invites bodies of work of five to ten images, while the Single Image and Youth competitions focus on standalone photographs; the Student competition asks photography students to respond to the 2027 brief, “Journeys,” through a series of five to ten images.
This edition introduces Histories as a new Series category and Animal Portraits as a new Single Image category. With categories spanning architecture and design, creative practice, documentary projects, environment, landscape, portraiture, sport, wildlife and more, the awards offer photographers a broad platform to place new and recent work in front of an international judging process.
Entry fee: Free to enter; entrants may submit up to three Single Image or Youth images for free, Series entrants may submit one series of 5 to 10 images per category for free, and Student entries are free through registered institutions.
Eligibility
Open to photographers worldwide, with the Series competition open to entrants over 18, the Single Image competition open to all members of the public submitting images taken in 2026, the Youth competition open to photographers aged 19 and under, and the Student competition open to photography students aged 18 to 30 at selected registered institutions; entries must be original photographic work and cannot originate from computer-generated content.
Prize
The Series overall winner receives $25,000, Sony Digital Imaging equipment, flights and accommodation to the London awards ceremony, a career-development day, a trophy, certificate, book and exhibition inclusion, press exposure, website and online promotion, and a solo display at the following year’s London exhibition. The Single Image overall winner receives $5,000, with category winners and shortlisted photographers receiving benefits such as Sony Digital Imaging equipment, certificates, exhibition and book inclusion, press exposure and online promotion according to placement. Student and Youth winners receive Sony Digital Imaging equipment and related benefits, with the Student overall winner’s institution receiving Sony Digital Imaging equipment worth approximately €30,000.