The top entries in this year’s open contest were just announced, selected from more than 430,000 images from more than 200 countries and territories.

An antlered deer roars among others, seen at a distance, silhouetted against a red sun.

© Huajin Sun / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Crowning of the King. Shortlist, Natural World & Wildlife. Sun: “At dawn, the newly victorious ‘milu king’ stands tall among a resting herd of does, roaring triumphantly. Behind him, the rising sun highlights his majestic silhouette—crowning his untamed power and glory.”

A train rushes past, the background blurred with motion, and a conductor visible inside the train.

© Maciej Lubomski / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Tokyo Rush. Shortlist, Street Photography. Lubomski: “As a train rushed past in Tokyo, Japan, everything around it blurred into color and noise, except for the conductor framed perfectly in the doorway. For a split second, motion and stillness collided, capturing the focus that keeps the city moving.”

Huge chunks of ice fall from the face of a glacier, seen behind a seal floating on an iceberg in the foreground.

© Axel Schmidtke / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Chaos. Shortlist, Motion. Schmidtke: “This bearded seal was spotted on an ice floe directly beneath the 30-meter-high edge of a glacier on the coast of Svalbard. The photographer observed as the world above the seal collapsed, as huge chunks of ice broke off and thundered into the water behind it.”

A white horse runs, lifting its front legs off the ground.

© Lorea Hausheer / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Celestial Dance. Shortlist, Motion. This young Lusitano stallion was allowed to move freely during a photography session, enabling the photographer to capture its powerful and graceful movements.

A view of the exterior of a modern museum, which has been built with many interlocking disc shapes.

© MD Tanveer Rohan / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Desert Rose: The National Museum of Qatar. Shortlist, Architecture. A striking view of the National Museum of Qatar under a clear blue sky, showcasing its desert-rose-inspired design with interlocking geometric disks and sweeping architectural forms.

A boy looks toward the camera while his head is being shaved with a razor.

© Mariana Zilbershteyn / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Tonsure. Shortlist, Street Photography. This photograph, taken at the Hindu pilgrimage of Kumbh Mela, shows a young boy having his hair shaved and gathered by his mother as an offering. This is part of the traditional tonsure ceremony, symbolizing devotion and humility.

A model poses in a green room, wearing a long and flowing red garment.

© Chukwudebelu Ojekwe / Sony World Photography Awards 2026The Beauty of Edo. Shortlist, Creative. An homage to the grandeur of the Kingdom of Benin, where power, heritage, and divinity intertwine. Red symbolizes the sacred essence of royalty and the bloodline of warriors, while green represents the fertility of the land and the endurance of its people, and gold echoes the kingdom’s artistic and spiritual wealth.

A very tall Buddha statue stands in the distance, seen behind houses.

© ChenYu Hsieh / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Above the Neighborhood. Shortlist, Travel. An ordinary residential street is quietly overshadowed by a monumental presence in the distance.

Several models get ready for a fashion show.

© Hernan Jaramillo / Sony World Photography Awards 2026In the Dressing Room. Shortlist, Lifestyle. A group of models get ready for a fashion show in Medellín, Colombia.

A small fox stands on snowy ground, during a snowstorm.

© Klaus Hellmich / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Arctic Fox in Blizzard. Winner, Natural World & Wildlife. A blue arctic fox in a blizzard, photographed on the Varanger Peninsula in Norway.

A boy and several adults ride horses while wearing traditional clothing.

© Brian Arancibia / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Tradition Continues. Shortlist, Lifestyle. A group of riders pass through the streets of a town in Chile during a gathering. A young boy rides alongside the adults, dressed in traditional clothing. This image captures a scene where everyday life, family, and cultural tradition intersect, revealing how shared practices and customs are passed down.

An aerial view of several different-colored lakes in a dark Icelandic landscape

© Filip Hrebenda / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Earth’s Palette. Shortlist, Travel. Seen from above, an ordinary landscape can become something extraordinary, as is often the case in Iceland. Each lake has a different hue, which reminded the photographer of a painter’s palette.

A group of penguins stand in a line, waiting to jump off the edge of an iceberg into the water below.

© Martin Schmid / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Queuing for Departure. Shortlist, Motion. A group of gentoo penguins queues for jumping into the antarctic sea.

A puma leaps to bite the neck of a fleeing guanaco.

© Kevin Shi / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Power Bite. Shortlist, Natural World & Wildlife. Chile’s Torres Del Paine is famous for its stunning landscapes, but it’s also home to a fierce predator: the puma. These majestic creatures feed primarily on guanacos, although the hunting success rate is not very high, especially for female pumas. The photographer followed this female and her two cubs for several days, before witnessing her hunting.

A chaotic scene during a festival, where men splash in a river beneath huge torches that send sparks flying.

© Megumi Murakami / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Winner, Travel. The Abare Festival has been passed down for 350 years in Japan’s Noto region. This image captures the festival’s finale, as men leap into the river amid fiercely burning torches that send sparks flying everywhere. They rampage wildly, believing that the more they rage, the more the deity rejoices.

A skier plows through deep powdery snow, sending plumes into the air.

© Christoph Oberschneider / Sony World Photography Awards 2026Inhale. Shortlist, Motion. A skier captured in deep powder snow in the Austrian Alps.

A city skyline in the distance, seen across a body of water, from beneath the deck of a huge road brisge.

© Eng Tong Tan / Sony World Photography Awards 2026V. Shortlist, Architecture. Using the underside of a bridge to create a strong vanishing point, this photograph draws the viewer’s eye toward the horizon, where structure, water, and city converge.

An owl, photographed during takeoff, with one of its eyes visible between flight feathers.

© Chung Cheong Wong / Sony World Photography Awards 2026The Eye: Window to the Soul. Shortlist, Natural World & Wildlife. Blakiston’s fish owl is a nocturnal bird of prey that relies on its keen hearing and sight for hunting.

Please visit the competition’s official website to see all of this year’s winners and honorees.

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