A split image: left side shows penguins swimming underwater near snowy mountains; right side shows two dragonflies perched atop plant stems against a green background.

The window to enter the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards 2026 is quickly closing, and photographers have about a month left to enter this year’s competition. Entries remain open for the Professional, Open, and Youth competitions until early January, and there are some fantastic prizes up for grabs. The Sony World Photography Awards have shared 21 entries from the upcoming competition to inspire other photographers to join the competition.

In the Professional competition, photographers worldwide enter their best photo series. The overall winning photographer earns $25,000, a kit of Sony digital imaging equipment, flights and accommodations for the Sony World Photography Awards presentation in London in April, a certificate, trophy, book, inclusion in an exhibition, a solo display at the Sony World Photography Awards 2027, and more. Meanwhile, category winners get all the same prizes, except for the $25,000 in cash and the solo exhibition. Second-place, third-place, and shortlisted photographers also receive some of these prizes, including a certificate, trophy, and inclusion in this year’s exhibition. The Professional competition entry deadline is January 13, 2026.

Two deer with brown fur and antlers are locking horns and facing each other in a snowy outdoor setting, with bare branches and leaves visible in the background.© Robin Kaufman (United States), Natural World and Wildlife entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A man in a brown jacket plays an acoustic guitar while walking through a smoky street during a protest, with debris scattered on the ground and people in the background.© Aggelos Barai (Albania), Lifestyle entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A silhouetted child stands in water holding up a fishing net, while three children run along a grassy embankment under a dramatic, cloudy sky. Sunlight breaks through the clouds, casting reflections on the water.© Anjan Ghosh (India), Street entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A white ptarmigan with a small black streak above its eye sits on a snowy landscape, blending in almost perfectly with its surroundings.© Cesare Barilla (Italy), Natural World and Wildlife entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026
A gymnast in a purple leotard performs a leap on a beige floor, arms extended and one leg bent behind her, with a red border visible at the top of the image.© CK Thanseer (India), Motion entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A snowy village at dusk, with colorful houses lining a winding road illuminated by streetlights, set against a backdrop of a large, snow-covered mountain.© Dennis Lehtonen, Landscape entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A person wearing a white headscarf raises their arms amid large swirling flames against a dark background, creating a dramatic and intense scene.© Wahyu Budiyanto (Indonesia), Travel entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026

The Sony World Photography Awards Open competition invites photographers to submit their best single photos across 10 categories: architecture, creative, landscape, lifestyle, motion, natural world and wildlife, object, portraiture, street photography, and travel. The overall winner will receive $5,000, a Sony camera kit, flights, and accommodations for the big show in London, and more. Category winners will each receive a camera kit, but will have to pay their own way to the awards show if they want to attend. There are also shortlisted photographers for each category, who will be included in the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 photo book. The deadline to enter the Open competition is January 6, 2026.

Children fly a red kite in an open, sandy area with scattered trees. The iconic white Taj Mahal stands in the background, and a bicycle and small blue structure are visible nearby. The sky is hazy and soft.© Deepika Rajesh (India), Street entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A lone elephant with large tusks walks across a barren, open landscape under a partly cloudy sky, with distant mountains visible on the horizon.© Francine Stevens (New Zealand), Natural World and Wildlife entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A split-level photo shows monks in traditional robes on a boat above water, with one monk paddling underwater. The scene is bright and colorful, with a clear blue sky and reflections on the water’s surface.© Kyaw Zay Yar Lin (Myanmar), Travel entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026
Aerial view of a boat moving through blue-green water, leaving a wake behind, with a narrow barrier and a rectangular enclosure in the water to the right.© Le Nhat Quang (Vietnam), Travel entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A cormorant catches an octopus in its beak while swimming in choppy water, with rocky hills and a cloudy sky in the background.© Lior Berman Fernandez (Costa Rica), Natural World and Wildlife entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A group of penguins swims underwater near the surface, with snowy mountains and a cloudy sky visible above the waterline in the background.© Matthew Sharp (United Kingdom), Natural World and Wildlife entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 Aerial view of people arranging or transporting round green objects on a white surface, with the objects forming a neat, repetitive pattern across the image.© 冠华-任 (China Mainland), Lifestyle entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026

The Youth competition is open to all photographers aged 19 and under. An overall winner receives a Sony camera kit, travel to London for the show, a certificate, a trophy, and more. There will be up to nine additional shortlisted photographers, who will have their work promoted on the Sony World Photography Awards website. Entries for the Youth competition close on January 6, 2026.

All categories of the Sony World Photography Awards are entirely free to enter, and photographers do not need to use Sony equipment to be eligible. Complete rules, regulations, and entry information are available on the Sony World Photography Awards website.

Three wooden cabins sit on a grassy hillside with tall, rugged mountains and a forest in the background, illuminated by soft, golden sunlight under a partly cloudy sky.© Meshal Alawahdi (Kuwait), Landscape entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026
A person swims underwater facing a large beluga whale, both surrounded by bubbles and darkness, creating a dramatic, intimate scene in black and white.© Naitao Li (China), Motion entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 Two blue damselflies perched on dried flower buds, facing the camera. Their wings and bodies blend with the greenish-blue stems, and the background is a soft, blurred green.© Pedro Luis Ajuriaguerra Saiz (Spain), Natural World and Wildlife entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A black and white photo of a boy looking over his shoulder with a bird perched on his left shoulder, set against a dramatic cloudy sky.© Pranto Chakraborty (Bangladesh), Lifestyle entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A person in traditional Andean clothing stands next to a white llama decorated with red tassels, with snow-capped mountains and a lake in the background under a blue sky.© Rafael Osores (Peru), Lifestyle entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A surfer rides a wave at sunset, silhouetted against the orange sun low on the horizon, with dark waves and a clear sky in the background.© Thusitha Jayasundara (Sri Lanka), Motion entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026 A black-and-white photo of a shaggy, curly-haired cow with its head lowered, facing slightly left. The background is mostly white, emphasizing the cow’s textured fur and gentle expression.© Tommy Lei (United States), Natural World and Wildlife entry | Sony World Photography Awards 2026

The photos featured throughout this story have already been entered for the Open competition in the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 and have been shared with the press to help spread the word about the competition’s closing entry period. There is still time to enter, but the deadlines are fast approaching.


Image credits: Sony World Photography Awards, World Photo Organization