The winning images of the Sony World Photography Awards 2024

Every spring, Sony presents its "World Photography Awards" at a ceremony in London with much pomp and circumstance. The most important title, "Photographer of the Year", is endowed with 25,000 US dollars. This year it goes to French photographer Juliette Pavy for her series "Spiral Campaigns".

A total of 380,000 entries from over 200 countries were submitted to this year's competition. A good half of them in the professional categories. Under this link you will find all the images in the top three places.

The winning series have one thing in common: they do not simply consist of "beautiful pictures", but tell a story - sometimes with a personal connection. The jury rewarded images with a multi-layered meaning, emphasising the artistic nature of the competition. Here are all the winners of the professional categories:

Reportage: Juliette Pavy

The reportage "Spiral Campaigns" analyses the forced contraception in Greenland by the Danish authorities. Between 1966 and 1975, 4500 Inuit women and girls were given IUDs for contraception without their consent. In some cases, the procedure unintentionally led to permanent sterilisation. The campaign was intended to reduce the indigenous population and only came to light in 2022.

Juliette Pavy's reportage attempts to capture the collective trauma in images. She combines photos of Greenland's capital Nuuk with images of X-rays and Danish archives. In addition to victims of the campaign, Pavy also photographed doctors who carried out the interventions and regret their role today.

The French photographer came across the topic by chance when she saw a small agency report about it in her local newspaper. She had previously worked in Greenland and began to track down affected women. In her acceptance speech, Pavy said: "I hope that with this award I can give a voice to those who have been silenced for almost half a century."

Here is the full series.

Landscape: Eddo Hartmann

"The Sacrifice Zone" by Dutch photographer Eddo Hartmann explores a remote area in Kazakhstan where over 450 Russian nuclear tests took place between 1949 and 1989. The photos were taken with an infrared camera. The light spectrum is invisible to the human eye - just like the radioactive radiation that still exists.

Here is the link to the whole series.

Environment: Mahé Elipe

The Melipona bee is a rare species that has no stinger. It is sacred to the descendants of the Mayas, who are fighting back against the agricultural industry in south-east Mexico. In 2023, hundreds of beekeepers lost their colonies because they were poisoned by an insecticide. Mahé Elipe's series "Echoes of the Hive" documents this tragedy.

Here is the link to the whole series.

Portrait: Valery Poshtarov

"Father and Son" by Valery Poshtarov shows fathers with their sons. The men hold hands for the portraits. Some of them were doing this for the first time in their lives - a moment of closeness and intimacy, but often also hesitation and resistance. The pictures were mainly taken in Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Turkey, Serbia and Greece.

Here is the link to the entire series.

Creative: Sujata Setia

Probably the most daring work of this year comes from Sujata Setia. "A Thousand Cuts" is an ongoing series about domestic violence in South Asia, which the photographer experienced first-hand. Setia prints portraits of affected women on thin paper and then adds countless small cuts to the images. The technique is intended to symbolise the trauma of the victims and is an allusion to the ancient Asian torture method lingchi, known as "death by a thousand cuts".

Here is the link to the whole series.

Architecture: Siobhán Doran

The project "Sala Mayor" by Siobhán Doran shows houses of sugar plantation owners in the Philippines from the 19th century. The submitted series consists of eight pictures of living rooms that reflect the lifestyle of the time. Today, most of the houses are museums or restaurants.

Here is the link to the entire series.

Still Life: Federico Scarchilli

Frederico Scarchilli's images illustrate the modern pharmaceutical industry's dependence on nature. Many medicines are based on substances found in plants. In his "Flora" series, Scarchilli juxtaposes the plants with the end products.

Here is the link to the whole series.

Sport: Thomas Meurot

When you think of surfing, you usually think of sunny beaches and warm temperatures. But this is not always the case: Thomas Meurot photographed surfers in Iceland in icy conditions for his series "Kald Sòl" (cold sun). In order to make the cold visible to the viewer, he uses black and white images.

Here is the link to the entire series.

Wildlife & Nature: Eva Berler

Sometimes everyday encounters lead to creative ideas. While cleaning her balcony, Eva Berler discovered cobwebs that looked like little worlds of their own - frozen in place. The "Suspended worlds" project is a metaphor for the secret and unnoticed lives of many people around us that we barely notice. Berler has deliberately excluded the spiders themselves from her pictures.

Here is the link to the entire series.

Portfolio: Jorge Mónaco

The Argentinian photographer Jorge Mónaco photographs a wide range of topics. Nevertheless, his images are recognisable as part of the same whole. They reflect the same creative process on the one hand and the photographer's personal interests on the other. Mónaco shows people of completely different origins, sexual orientations and social classes. In doing so, he tries not to judge, but to show the people as authentically as possible.

Here is the link to the whole series.

Outstanding Contribution to Photography: Sebastião Salgado

Brazilian Sebastião Salgado is one of the most important photographers of our era. He has documented wars, crises and revolutions - but also some of the most beautiful places on earth. His style is unmistakable: black and white, dramatic light, lots of contrast. Salgado turned 80 in February. He was honoured for his life's work at the Sony World Photography Award 2024. "My photography has not evolved over the years. I have evolved," said Slagado at the press conference, describing the evolution of his work.

He always photographed things that moved him personally. After studying economics, he initially worked for an international coffee organisation in London. His work took him to Africa, where he discovered photography. Shortly afterwards, he quit his job and became a freelance photojournalist. In 1979, he joined the renowned Magnum agency.

After three decades, he had had enough of wars and crises. "The things I had seen made me sick. I was disappointed in humanity," says Salgado. From 2004, he therefore photographed unspoilt landscapes for his "Genesis" project instead. He is now involved in environmental protection and campaigns against the deforestation of Brazilian forests.

The best images from the Sony World Photography Awards and a selection from Sebastião Salgado's life's work are on display at Sommerset House in London. The exhibition will run from 19 April to 6 May 2024.