- Judges for the 19th edition of the Sony World Photography Awards announced;
- Monica Allende returns for third year as Professional competition Jury Chair and London exhibition curator
- 2026 exhibition opens at Somerset House, London 17 April – 4 May 2026;
- 2025 travelling exhibition on view in Milan until 28 September and opening in Berlin on 16 October.
The Sony World Photography Awards announce today the jury and London exhibition dates for the 19th edition. Established in 2007, the Sony World Photography Awards champion contemporary photography’s most compelling stories. One of the world’s most prestigious platforms for photography, each year the Awards celebrate the defining images and narratives shaping our visual culture, and provide photographers with unparalleled international exposure and recognition.
Organised by Creo under its photography strand the World Photography Organisation, the Awards are partnered with Sony to support the continued development of photographic culture by giving a global platform to today’s talent. Entry to the Awards is completely free and photographers are judged anonymously by a panel of industry-leading judges.
2026 Judges
Following a successful 2025 edition – which saw over 419,000 images entered into the competition – and now in their 19th year, the internationally acclaimed Awards welcome back Monica Allende for her third year as Chair of the Jury for the Professional Competition and curator of the London exhibition at Somerset House.
Joining Allende is a panel of leading figures from across the photography industry, each contributing their unique expertise and insight into the medium:
Professional competition:
- Monica Allende, Independent Curator and Photography Consultant, Chair of the Jury
- Daniel Brena, Director, Centro de las Artes de San Agustín, Mexico
- Yumi Goto, Independent Curator, Editor, Researcher and Publisher, Japan
- Zack Hatfield, Managing Editor, Aperture magazine, USA
- Paul Ninson, Founder and Executive Director, Dikan Center, Ghana
- Bindi Vora, Artist and Senior Curator, Autograph, UK
Open & Youth competitions:
Ruby Rees-Sheridan, Assistant Curator, Photography, National Portrait Gallery, UK
Student competition:
Tess Raimbeau, Photo Editor, Libération, France
2026 London Exhibition
The Sony World Photography Awards 2026 exhibition opens at Somerset House, London from 17 April to 4 May 2026. A fixture of the annual photography calendar, the celebrated London exhibition – curated by Monica Allende – features a selection of winning and shortlisted images from the 2026 Awards, as well as special presentations by the 2025 Photographer of the Year Zed Nelson and this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography recipient, who will be announced in November.
2025 Travelling Exhibition
Following the London exhibition, subsequent presentations in the spring in Tokyo and an ongoing exhibition in Milan, Italy (until 28 September 2025), the Sony World Photography Awards 2025 exhibition travels next to Berlin, Germany (16 October 2025 – 18 January 2026).
To find out more about our exhibitions, please visit worldphoto.org/exhibition.
The Sony World Photography Awards opened to submissions on 1 June 2025. Full competition and category descriptions can be found at worldphoto.org.
