Sony World Photography Awards: 2023 National Awards Winners

The World Photography Organisation is delighted to reveal the National Award winners for the Sony World Photography Awards 2023.

The National Awards program is an initiative set up by the World Photography Organisation and Sony to support local photographic communities around the world, with 55 countries taking part this year.

Over 415,000 images from over 200 countries and territories were submitted to the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 and over 200,000 were entered to the Open competition (from which the National Awards winner was selected).

New to this year’s Awards are four new Regional Awards set up by the World Photography Organisation and Sony Europe. The new Awards spotlight the breadth of photographic talent from a range of countries across Europe and are divided into four categories: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, the Romania & Moldova Regional Award; the Latvia, Estonia & Lithuania Regional Award; the Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia & Herzegovina Regional Award; and the Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria & North Macedonia Regional Award.

All National Award winners receive Sony digital imaging equipment and will be included in the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition and book.

The overall winners in the Student, Youth, Open and Professional competitions of the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 will be announced on 13 April 2023 and will go on display as part of the exhibition at Somerset House, London (14 April-1 May 2023). For more information about upcoming announcements and winners please visit www.worldphoto.org

Portrait of a Girl © Maria Guțu, Moldova, Republic Of, Shortlist, Regional Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2023

This year’s National Awards winners are:
Austria - Fabian Jung, Bangladesh - Protap Shekhor Mohanto, Cambodia - Chan Sithy Heng, Egypt - Abdelrahman Gabr, France - Samia Berbiche, Germany - Andreas Mikonauschke, India - Pradeep Kodimana Ramakrishnan, Indonesia - Mawaruddin Mawaruddin, Japan - Hajime Hirano, Winner, Japan - Kazutoshi Ono, 2nd Place, Japan -Takahiro Toh, 3rd Place, Republic of Korea - Gyu Seob Shim, Winner, Republic of Korea - Kyujin Jeong, 2 nd Place, Republic of Korea - Lee Jongkee, 3 rd Place, Kuwait - Adil Javed, Malaysia - Eng Tong Tan, Myanmar - Si Thu Ye Myint, Nepal - Rabik Upadhayay, Nigeria - Nukabari Opuama, Pakistan - Yawar Abbas, Philippines - Donell Gumiran, Poland - Mateusz Żurowski, Qatar - Abdulla AL-Mushaifri, Saudi Arabia - Mansoor Mohsen, Singapore – Huazheng Hong, South Africa - Tshabalala Bongani, Sri Lanka - Rajeev Abeysekara, Switzerland - Sandra Handschin, Taiwan - Leo Huang, Thailand - Saravut Vanset, Turkey - Erhan Coral, United Arab Emirates - Oday Shanshal, United States - Angela Perez, Vietnam - Thiện Nguyễn Ngọc

Natalia and Ksenia © Vladimir Zivojinovic, Serbia, Shortlist, Regional Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2023

European Regional Awards
Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania & Moldova:
Cristina Băzăr (Romania), Winner, Ivana Dostálová (Czech Republic), Shortlist, Dávid Balogh (Hungary), Shortlist, Maria Guțu (Moldova), Shortlist, Filip Hrebenda (Slovakia), Shortlist

Latvia, Estonia & Lithuania:
Milda Vyš niauskaitė (Lithuania), Winner, Uku Sööt (Estonia), Shortlist, Niks Freimanis (Latvia), Shortlist

Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia & Herzegovina:
Roberto Pavić (Croatia), Winner, Armin Durgut (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Shortlist, Suer Celina (Kosovo), Shortlist, Ivana Todorović (Montenegro), Shortlist Vladimir Zivojinovic (Serbia), Shortlist, Andrej Tarfila (Slovenia), Shortlist

Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria & North Macedonia:
Sima Bivolarska-Stoyanova (Bulgaria), Winner, Elena Georgiou (Cyprus), Shortlist, Alexandros Othonos (Greece), Shortlist, Vlatko Rafeski (North Macedonia), Shortlist

Latin America Awards
Mexico - Pável Vélez, Winner, Ecuador - Kevin Moncayo, 2nd Place, Peru - Alejandra del Carmen Elías Zambrano, 3rd Place, Argentina - Solange Avena, Bolivia - Reynaldo San Martín, Chile - Oscar Seguel Mangiola, Colombia - Hernan Jaramillo, Costa Rica - Manuel Rodríguez, Guatemala - Andres Novales

Imperfect © Angela Perez, United States, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2023

Imperfect © olange Avena, Argentina, Shortlist, Latin America National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2023

Virginia Hanusik: Into the Quiet and the Light

By Virginia Hanusik

Publisher : Columbia Books on Architecture and the City

2024 | 184 pages

In South Louisiana, where the Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico, water―and the history of controlling it―is omnipresent. Into the Quiet and the Light: Water, Life, and Land Loss in South Louisiana glimpses the vulnerabilities and possibilities of living on the water during an ongoing climate catastrophe and the fallout of the fossil fuel industry―past, present, and future. The book sustains our physical, mental, and emotional connections to these landscapes through a collection of photographs by Virginia Hanusik. Framing the architecture and infrastructure of South Louisiana with both distance and intimacy, introspection and expansiveness, this work engages new memories, microhistories, anecdotes, and insights from scholars, artists, activists, and practitioners working in the region. Unfolding alongside and in dialogue with Hanusik’s photographs, these reflections soberly and hopefully populate images of South Louisiana’s built and natural environments, opening up multiple pathways that defy singularity and complicate the disaster-oriented imagery often associated with the region and its people. In staging these meditations on water, life, and land loss, this book invites readers to join both Hanusik and the contributors in reading multiplicity into South Louisiana’s water-ruled landscapes.

With texts from Richie Blink, Imani Jacqueline Brown, Jessica Dandridge, Rebecca Elliott, Michael Esealuka, T. Mayheart Dardar, Billy Fleming, Andy Horowitz, Arthur Johnson, Louis Michot, Nini Nguyen, Kate Orff, Jessi Parfait, Amy Stelly, Jonathan Tate, Aaron Turner, and John Verdin.

Rawsht Twana: Twana’s Box

By Rawsht Twana

Publisher : Fraglich Publishing

2024 | 252 pages

Twana’s Box' can be described in many ways: a journey through a photographer’s rare archive, documenting the Kurdistan region of Iraq from 1974–1992; a son’s quest to find his lost father, who was murdered by a military regime; a young man’s way to piece together the fragments of a scattered family in a scattered culture; the becoming of a photographer who, through the stories of others, starts to understand his own identity in times of war. 'Twana’s Box' is not only the photo book that holds a selection of Twana Abdullah’s archive; it is a unique insight into a time and place in a region that has since completely transformed. Rawsht has spent years piecing together his father’s negatives and stories. His archival work inspired him to become a photographer himself, working for Metrography – the first independent Iraqi photo agency – before immigrating to Europe. ills colour & bw, 21 x 27 cm, hb, Kurdish/Arabic/English

Akinbode Akinbiyi: Being, Seeing, Wandering

By Akinbode Akinbiyi

Publisher : Spector Books

2024 | 252 pages

Taken across Europe and Africa, Akinbiyi’s images of everyday city life muse on the sociopolitical labyrinths of urban society

Whether in Bamako, Berlin, London, Lagos or Durban, British photographer Akinbode Akinbiyi (born 1946) creates black-and-white street scenes that function as visual metaphors, ruminating on cultural change, social exclusion and colonialism’s effect on urban planning.

Grace Wales Bonner: Dream in the Rhythm

By Grace Wales Bonner

Publisher : The Museum of Modern Art, New York

2024 | 184 pages

A deeply personal meditation on and around modern Black expression, curated by the acclaimed London-based designer
This volume, Grace Wales Bonner: Dream in the Rhythm―Visions of Sound and Spirit in the MoMA Collection, is an artist’s book created by the acclaimed London-based designer Grace Wales Bonner as “an archive of soulful expression.” Through an extraordinary selection of nearly 80 works from The Museum of Modern Art’s collection and archives, this unique volume draws multisensory connections between pictures and poems, music and performance, hearing and touch, gestures and vibrations, and bodies in motion. Photographs, scores and films by artists such as Dawoud Bey, Mark Bradford, Roy DeCarava, Lee Friedlander, David Hammons, Glenn Ligon, Steve McQueen, Lorna Simpson and Ming Smith, among others, are juxtaposed with signal texts by Black authors spanning the past century, including Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, June Jordan, Robin Coste Lewis, Ishmael Reed, Greg Tate, Jean Toomer, Quincy Troupe and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Published on the occasion of the exhibition Artist’s Choice: Grace Wales Bonner―Spirit Movers, this resplendent publication is a deeply personal meditation on and around modern Black expression that echoes Wales Bonner’s own vibrant, virtuosic designs.

Sony World Photography Awards: 2023 National Awards Winners

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