20130806

Winners of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards


Apr 26, 2013 | 

The winners of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards have just been announced. Norwegian photographer Andrea Gjestvang was announced as the Photographer of the Year, for her series of portraits of children and youths who survived the July 2011 massacre on the island of Utoeya, outside Oslo. This year's contest attracted more than 122,000 entries from 170 countries. The photographs were judged in six different competition categories, including Professional, Open, and Student Focus. The organizers have been kind enough to share some of their winning images with In Focus, gathered below. See also the shortlist of winners, earlier on In Focus. [20 photos]
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A portrait by Andrea Gjestvang, named Photographer of the Year in the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards. The photograph comes from a project called "One day in history" - Portraits of children and youths who survived the massacre on the island of Utoeya outside Oslo (NO) on 22nd of July 2011. "I bear my scars with dignity, because I got them standing for something I believe in," says Ylva Schwenke (15). Ylva from Tromso, hid by a path called "The love path". She was shot in the shoulder, her stomach and in both of her thighs. (© Andrea Gjestvang/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) 
Winner, Professional, People category. One day in history - Portraits of children and youths who survived the massacre on the island of Utoeya outside Oslo (NO) on 22nd of July 2011. "In the period after Utoeya I had a really hard time sleeping. I was afraid of the dark and suffered from dreadful nightmares. My mom and I decided that getting a dog might help me, so I got Athene. Now she sleeps on my stomach every night." Iselin Rose Borch (15) from Grong was hiding behind a rock by the pump house on the island. She was rescued by tourists in a boat. (© Andrea Gjestvang/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Sports. Olympic journey 2012 - A series of sports imagery from Olympic qualifying events and Olympic sports competition during the London 2012 Olympic Games. Melissa Wu of Australia practices during a diving training session ahead of the London Olympic Games at the Aquatics Center in Olympic Park on July 25, 2012 in London, England. (Adam Pretty/Getty Images/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Sports. Olympic journey 2012 - A series of sports imagery from Olympic qualifying events and Olympic sports competition during the London 2012 Olympic Games. Usain Bolt of Jamaica races ahead of Ryan Bailey of the United States, Yohan Blake of Jamaica, Justin Gatlin of the United States and Tyson Gay of the United States to win the Men's 100m Final on Day 9 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 5, 2012 in London, England. (Adam Pretty/Getty Images/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Youth Photographer of the Year - Traditions. New Year's eve traditions in Romania. (© Alecsandra Dragoi/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Portraiture: Six Degrees of Copenhagen - Based on the idea that every person on Earth is connected in the sixth degree, this series of photos depicts human connections through the city of Copenhagen. The set up is that I portray random people that I engage with in the streets, and that these chance meetings end up with me taking highly personal photos of these people, who then each send me on to another person in their network, who I can portray, who then gives me the name of another person. Anonymous woman. (© Jens Juul/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Portraiture: Six Degrees of Copenhagen. Anonymous man. (© Jens Juul/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Current Affairs: Personality and society. Reality vs illusions - In 2012, the people of North Korea celebrated the centennial birthday of the founder of their state, Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Il, who had continued the policy of his father for many years, passed away in 2011. Because of the policies of Kim Jong Il, North Korea remained the most closed country for many years. There has never been any complete and reliable information about developments in North Korea. Here, school students and a soldier at an official ceremony unveiling a monument to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. (© Ilya Pitalev/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Current Affairs: Personality and society. Reality vs illusions. North Korean Army soldiers and civilians on the stand of the Kim Il Sung Stadium. (© Ilya Pitalev/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Landscape. A Portrait of the Matterhorn. When I was young, I had long fantasized about climbing the Matterhorn but I never really had the chance. The Matterhorn was the last great Alpine peak to be conquered and its first ascent in 1865 marked the end of the golden age of alpinism. Its North Face, which is on all images, is amongst the "Three Great Problems" in the Alps and was not climbed until 1931. I have been around Zermatt countless times, the village nestled at the foot of the Matterhorn, looking toward the mountains and trying to capture the exquisiteness of this magical peak and its endless state of change; to compress the passing of time the beauty of the wind and the clouds dancing around the mountain. This portfolio is a kind of memento to all climbers who dared to go there and for those who never returned. Night Clouds #3, 07 Jan 2012 - 3:17 AM - Matterhorn at full moon. (© Nenad Saljic/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Arts & Culture. The Limousine - A luxury emblem used to transport politicians and rock stars in the '80s, nowadays the limousine has turned into an icon of Argentinean popular culture. Brides in their white dresses, television starlets, fifteen year old girls celebrating their birthdays: they all share the same sensation of sitting one night in an electric blue Ford Fairlane from 1972. "The limousine" explores a limited space in which many diverse things can happen. Between drunken stripteases, tears, and laughter, the limousine is transformed into a scenario of ordinary people that use the dark tinted windows to release their fantasies and their transgressions, under the curiosity of passersby. The twins Laura and Bela on the day of their fifteenth birthday celebration. In Latin America, the quinceanera - celebration of the fifteenth birthday - is very important because it marks the transition from childhood to maturity. (© Myriam Meloni/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Campaign. Honkey Kong - an advertising campaign for the sneaker brand Jim Rickey, shot on location in Hong Kong. A 2d platform game tribute. Images were shot from skyscrapers toward the ground, using a telephoto lens to make the image as flat as possible to make it look like a platform game. (© Christian Aslund/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Contemporary Issues. Prisons of South America - "I spent 10 years traveling to South American jails, a different and complex world in which violence and abuse are part of convict's life. I saw, during the time, how the convicts try to find a space similar to that one they had outside jails. They try to preserve their dignity. The history of this work is not to denounce the situation in jails but to discover and tell what joins and what separates the South American countries." Here, a close-up of prisoners' eyes in one of the most violent prisons near Caracas, Venezuela, where many are armed. (© Valerio Bispuri/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Contemporary Issues. Prisons of South America. Prison inmates in Santiago, Chile. (© Valerio Bispuri/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Fashion & Beauty. i-D Iceland - The story was photographed in the remote east coast of Iceland, on and around the glacier lake of Vatnajokull named Jokulsarlon. This shot was taken on the slowly moving edges of a glacier. (© Klaus Thymann/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Lifestyle. Summer family - the images show the photographer's family on a seaside holiday in Liguria in the summer of 2012. (© Alice Caputo/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Student Focus Photographer of the Year. (© Natalia Wiernik/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Travel. Journey to Jerusalem of Africa-Lalibela, Ethiopia - Every year, just before Christmas day.thousands of pious Christian orthodox worshipers make a pilgrimage to Lalibela, a small town in Ethiopia's highlands, known as Jerusalem of Africa. Lalibela is famous for its 13th century monolithic churches, carved out of the living rock and one of the world's great wonders. Here, an infertile woman is baptized by priests; according to faith the water has fertility powers that will allow her to conceive. (© Gali Tibbon/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 
Winner, Professional Travel. Journey to Jerusalem of Africa-Lalibela, Ethiopia. A ray of light penetrates into the church from a cross shaped window as a pilgrim walks by. (© Gali Tibbon/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) # 

Open Photographer of the Year, Enhanced category. Storm - This girl stands firm in the storm. When confronting challenges, she will never give up. (© Hoang Hiep Nguyen/2013 Sony World Photography Awards) #