The  World  Photography  Organisation  is  delighted  to  announce  Independent  Curator  and Photography Consultant Monica Allende as the new Chair of the Professional Competition Jury. Also announced is the judging panel for the Sony World Photography Awards 2024, and forthcoming dates for the exhibition which returns to Somerset House, London from 19 April – 6 May 2024.

Now in its 17th year, the Sony World Photography Awards are one of the world’s largest and most prestigious photography competitions, championing the best contemporary photography from across the world and providing participating photographers with important international exposure and career-building opportunities.

Sony supports the Awards to help with the continued development of photographic culture by offering a global platform to the talent of today. Entry to the Awards is completely free and

photographers are judged anonymously by a panel of industry-leading judges.

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2024 JUDGES

This year, esteemed Independent Curator and Photography Consultant Monica Allende is appointed as the new Chair of the Jury for the Professional Competition and curator of the Sony World Photography Awards 2024 exhibition at Somerset House, London. Bringing her wealth of experience in the photography world, Allende has previously held numerous high-profile positions across the industry including as Artistic Director of both the Landskrona Foto Festival and the GetxoPhoto International Image Festival, and as former Photo Editor at the Sunday Times Magazine, where she launched the award-winning photography section Spectrum. Allende is curator of the Blues Skies Project, which was shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2019 and lectures at the London College of Communication and EFTI (Centro Internacional de Fotografía y Cine) in Madrid.

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Commenting on her appointment, Monica Allende says: ‘I feel very honoured to chair the jury of such internationally  renowned  Awards  and  excited  to  enter  into  meaningful  discussions  about photography with expert jurors from around the globe. I hope to engage with varied perspectives in an innovative and collaborative process, and I look forward to seeing works that inspire me to pause, think and consider.’

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This year’s judges bring a breadth of knowledge and expertise from varied photographic backgrounds:

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Professional Competition

• Elena Navarro, Photo Curator, Producer, and Consultant, Mexico
• Mutsuko Ota, Editorial Director, IMA Magazine, Japan
• Elisabeth Sherman, Senior Curator, Direction of Exhibitions and Collections, International Center of Photography (ICP), United States
• Tanzim  Wahab,  Curator,  Spore  Initiative,  Germany  and  Festival  Director, Chobi Mela, Bangladesh
• Monica Allende, Independent Curator, Photography Consultant and Chair of the Jury

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Open and Youth Competitions

Daniel Blochwitz, Curator, Foto Festival Lenzburg, Switzerland

Student Competition

Ravi Ghosh, Deputy Editor, British Journal of Photography, UK

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2024 EXHIBITION DATES AND 2023 INTERNATIONAL TOUR DATES

In 2024, the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition opens at Somerset House, London from 19 April – 6 May.

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Following the London exhibition and subsequent presentations in Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City and Milan, the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 exhibition travels next to Berlin where it will be on view at the Willy-Brandt-Haus, 17 November 2023 – 28 January 2024.

For more details please visit worldphoto.org.

2024 PRIZES AND DEADLINES

The  Sony  World  Photography  Awards  opened  on   1  June  2023.  Full competition and category descriptions can be found at www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards

Deadlines for submission across the Awards’ four competitions are:

Professional: 12 January 2024, 13:00 GMT

Open: 5 January 2024, 13:00 GMT

Student: 30 November 2023, 13:00 GMT

Youth: 5 January 2024, 13:00 GMT

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All category winners of the Professional, Open, Youth and Student competitions will receive digital imaging equipment from Sony. In addition, cash prizes of $25,000 (USD) will be presented to the Photographer of the Year, $5,000 (USD) to the Open Photographer of the Year and $5,000 (USD) to the winner of the Sustainability Prize. The winner of the Photographer of the Year title will also be rewarded with a solo presentation of their work as part of the Sony World Photography London exhibition the following 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.