The World Photography Organization has announced the Open and National winners of the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards. The winners of the Open competition span ten different categories and include American photographers Christy Lee Rogers and Hal Gage, and the National competition celebrates local photographic talent from across 62 countries, including Canadian Jasem Khlef. See more on the winners and their images below, and check AlphaUniverse.com for the 2019 SWPA Open Photographer Of The Year announcement in April.

Striking Standalone Images Announced As Open Competition Winners At 2019 Sony World Photography Awards

Harmony. Photographer: Christy Lee Rogers. Year: 2019. “Shot underwater in Hawaii, this image is part of my Muses Collection. What started to work best for me was having a perspective from outside of the water, looking in and using the surface of a pool as a canvas, utilizing natural effects like the refraction of light with movement to bend reality, and shooting at night so I could really control my light.” Copyright: © Christy Lee Rogers, United States of America, 1st Place, Open Competition (Motion), 2019 Sony World Photography Awards

Stumps, Alder Lake, Nisqually River, Oregon. Photographer: Hal Gage. Year: 2019. “Stumps exposed from the water levels on the manmade Alder lake on the Nisqually River Dam, Washington.” Copyright: © Hal Gage, United States of America, 1st Place, Open Competition (Landscape), 2019 Sony World Photography Awards

LONDON: February 26, 2019: ​Spanning ten diverse categories, the World Photography Organization is proud to reveal the winning single images of the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards’ Open competition.

Selected from a record-breaking number of entries submitted from 195 countries and territories, the judges have rewarded ten exceptional single images that each fit the brief of the diverse categories. The winners are:

• Architecture: Philippe Sarfati, French with the image Heatwave

• Culture (supported by Culture Trip): Pan Jianhua, China Mainland with the image Shadow Puppetry

• Creative: Martin Stranka, Czech, with the image Dreamers and Warriors

• Motion: Christy Lee Rogers, American with the image Harmony

• Landscape: Hal Gage, American with the image Stumps, Alder Lake, Nisqually River, Oregon

• Natural World and Wildlife: Tracey Lund, British with the image Underwater Gannets

• Portraiture: Richard Ansett, British with the image Grayson Perry - Birth

• Still Life: Rachel Yee Laam Lai, Hong Kong SAR with the image Peony and Leaves

• Street Photography: Carole Pariat, French with the image Open-Air Toilet

• Travel (supported by Eurostar): Nicolas Boyer, French with the image Woman Wearing a Wedding Dress

The winning photographers come from a broad range of countries and backgrounds and include full-time professional photographers, photographers who have recently converted from other careers, and enthusiasts alike.

The 10 Open category winners will now go on to compete for the ​Open Photographer of the Year​, winning $5,000 (USD). This photographer, along with the Professional categories’ winners, will be announced at an Awards’ ceremony in London on April 17.

2019 Sony World Photography Awards Celebrates Canadian Photographic Talent

Life is Crushing Me. Photographer: Jasem Khlef. Year: 2019. “A young man has become homeless After his mother kicked him in the street.” Copyright: © Jasem Khlef, National Awards 1st Place, Canada, Shortlist, Open Competition (Portraiture), 2019 Sony World Photography Awards

LONDON: February 26, 2019: Supporting the local photographic communities in 62 countries across the globe, the World Photography Organization and Sony today announce the winners of the 2019 National Awards. Included in the list is Jasem Khlef as recipient of the 2019 Canada National Award.

Part of the prestigious and internationally renowned Sony World Photography Awards, the National Awards program demonstrates Sony’s commitment to supporting local photographic talent by recognizing the work of local photographers and promoting it on a global scale.

Jasem Khlef’s image Life is Crushing Me was selected as the single best image taken by any photographer of Canadian nationality and living in Canada, entered to the Open competition of the Sony World Photography Awards.

Khlef is an Ottawa-based artist whose passion for street photography started in 2015. Khlef enjoys capturing people’s emotions and stories, describing the winning image as depicting “a young man who had become homeless after his mother had kicked him out onto the street”. Khlef is passionate about photography, stating that “tapping into people’s worlds and capturing a story is a desire that I can never have enough of”.

As National Award winner, Khlef receives the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony and will be flown to London to attend the Sony World Photography Awards ceremony on April 17. The winning work will be shown at the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London from April 18 – May 6 and published in the 2019 Awards’ book.

Prizes And Success Stories

All Open category and National Award winners receive the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony. In addition, the winning works will be published in the 2019 Awards’ book and shown at the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London from April 18 – May 6, with works then going on to tour internationally to Italy, Germany and Japan.

Being recognized in the Open and National Awards competitions can change photographers’ lives. Successes from the past year include Pedro Jarque Krebs, a Peruvian photographer who was shortlisted for the 2018 Open competition’s Wildlife category and won Peru’s National Award. He has gone on to win further prestigious international awards and has been published by media worldwide. The Awards have recognized the photographer again this year, shortlisting him in the Open competition’s Natural World and Wildlife category.

Produced by the World Photography Organization, the internationally acclaimed Sony World Photography Awards are one of the most important fixtures on the global photographic calendar. The Awards are now in their 12th year of partnership with headline sponsor Sony and consist of four competitions in total: Professional (for a body of works), Open (for a single image), Student (for academic institutions) and Youth (for 12-19 year olds). The 12th edition saw a record-breaking 326,997 submissions by photographers from 195 countries and territories, presenting some of the world’s finest contemporary photography captured over the past year. The full list of National Award winners can be found at https://www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-galleries/2019/national-awards/winners/2019-national-awards.