WPO Announces Sony World Photography Awards 2022
The World Photography Organisation has announced the judging panel for the Sony World Photography Awards 2022, along with the upcoming exhibition dates. The exhibition is scheduled to be hosted at Somerset House, London, from April 15 May 2, 2022 and will be on show in Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, from November 10 - December 11, 2022.
Sony reports that it supports the awards to help the continued development of photographic culture by giving a global platform to today’s talent. Entry to the Awards is completely free and photographers will be judged anonymously by a panel of industry leading judges, belonging to varied photographic backgrounds.
The judges for the Professional competition include Rahaab Allana, Curator and Publisher of Alkazi Foundation for the Arts (New Delhi), Ângela Ferreira, Artist, Independent curator, writer and educator, Nathalie Herschdorfer, Director of Museum of Fine Arts Le Locle (Switzerland), Deborah Klochko, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Museum of Photographic Arts (San Diego, California), Richmond Orlando Mensah, Founder and Creative Director of Manju Journal (Ghana) and Mike Trow, Independent Curator, Photo Editor and Chair of the Jury. The judge for the Open and Youth Competition is Hideko Kataoka, Director of Photography, Newsweek (Japan) and the judge for the Student competition is Colin Czerwinski, photographer and founder of Noice Magazine (USA).
Other venues include Berlin, Germany, Willy-Brandt Haus (October 28, 2021 – January 12, 2022), Paris, France Galerie Joseph (November 5-15, 2021) and Bern, Austria, Foto Zumstien (September
9 – October 6, 2021). Scott Gray, Founder and CEO, World Photography Organisation, says: “We are delighted to once again welcome visitors to exhibitions of the Sony World Photography Awards across Europe and look forward to collaborating with long-time and new partners Somerset House, London and Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool. Although challenging, the last two years have highlighted the importance of the Awards in not just providing a valuable platform for rewards and opportunities but also in bringing together a global community which elevates and champions the extraordinary and creative work of contemporary photographers.”
The deadlines for the four categories of the competition are January 14, 2022, 13:00 GMT (Professional category), January 7, 2022, 13:00 GMT (Open category) and November 30, 2021, 13:00 GMT (Student category). For the Youth category, monthly competition with a changing theme has been running from June 1, 2021 and will continue up to December 31, 2021. All the category winners of the Professional, Open, Youth and Student competitions will receive digital imaging equipment from Sony. In addition, cash prizes of USD 25,000 will be presented to the Photographer of the Year and USD 5,000 to the Open Photographer of the Year. All winning and shortlisted photographers’ works will be exhibited at the annual Sony World Photography Awards exhibition in London and will then be toured internationally. The winning images will also be published in the annual Awards book.