Everyday snappers shoot from the hip pocket

While almost everyone carries a high-spec camera in their pocket in the form of a smartphone these days, it takes a good eye to snap an award-winning image.

Thousands of photos were submitted by amateur and professional photographers from more than 140 countries for the 15th annual iPhone Photography Awards.

Antonio Denti of Italy, a photographer with Reuters, was named the grand prize winner for his image (left), called The Kid of Mosul, capturing a moment of tenderness in the rubble of war in Iraq. Another Italian, Pier Luigi Dodi, won first place in the animal section, for his photo Cows (above), while Huapeng Zhao of China won first place in the children section, with his portrait of a child in Sichuan.

Jury member Whitney Van Nes was impressed with the standard of this year’s entries.

“With images that appreciate the sublime and the beautiful, this year’s winning photographers share a strength of spirit in the face of our unnerving world.”