Sony World Photography Awards 2026: mortal combat and penguin dives

, The TimesMen in a Japanese festival carrying a burning structure while being splashed with water.

Winner of the travel category: a frantic moment during the Abare Festival in the Noto region of Japan. Men leap into the river as torches blaze, part of a tradition three centuries old

MEGUMI MURAKAMI

A deer with large antlers turning its head to lick its back, against a warm, blurred background.

A deer strains to lick a hard to reach spot in the fading light at Charlecote in Warwickshire

SAMUEL ROUND

A young woman lies on a bed of hay next to a black cow, looking at her phone.

Winner in the lifestyle category: “Charlotte and Dolly” captures a young woman resting in a cool barn with her cow during a hot spell in West Virginia

VANTA E CODA III

A cougar attacking a guanaco, biting its neck as the guanaco rears up on its hind legs.

A puma attempts to take down a llama after hurtling through the air in an attack in Chile’s Torres Del Paine

KEVIN SHI

Black and white photo of a sumo wrestler throwing salt with a person dressed in traditional attire beside them.

Salt is thrown into the ring before a sumo wrestle, to purify the dohyo and pray for the safety of the wrestlers

TAKERU MARUI

A collage of dried flower petals and parts arranged in a circle.

Aquilegia flowers separated into various smaller parts were pressed before being arranged in a circle, in the Japanese art of Oshibana

LESLEY ORMROD

A mountain reflected in a still lake, with a line of trees along the shore and autumn foliage on the hillside.

Lake Buttermere’s still waters perfectly reflect Fleetwith Pike as it bursts from the grey clouds and down to the glassy surface

DIMITRY PAPKOV

A woman with a plastic bag over her head holds a red heart-shaped balloon in front of tall buildings.

Winner in the “creative” category: this portrait called “Lost Hope” is an ode to Iranian women

SIAVOSH EJLALI

An aerial view of a dark, mountainous landscape under a stormy sky with a tornado-like cloud formation. A large, yellowish-green lake is in the foreground, with two smaller, light blue lakes further back, connected by a narrow stream.

Lakes in Iceland provide a pop of colour among the dark landscape after heavy rain

FILIP HREBENDA

Three muddy women in rugby uniforms holding babies in a field.

Three young mothers breastfeed their babies while still in their rugby kit after the final whistle blows

ANITA CLARK/PAUL WENHAM-CLARKE

Silhouette of a stag calling out during sunset.

A stag bellows into the morning light, having won dominance of the herd, illuminated by the rising sun

HUAJIN SUN

A line of bare trees disappearing into a dense fog.

An eerie shot of bare trees appearing in perfect lines out of the fog in Spain

MANUEL ORTIGA CASTILLO

A red squirrel stands upright on a wooden post, waving one paw.

A red squirrel appears to be dancing on top of a wooden pole in this well-timed photograph

STAN BOUMAN

A person in sunglasses and a wig stands before a mirror reflecting a woman in glasses and another person with their arm raised.

Models prepare for a fashion show in Medellín, Colombia

HERNAN JARAMILLO

A person standing inside a large blue ice cave.

The stunning blues of an ice cave in Iceland

MARIE-LINE DENTLER

Mountain peak rising above clouds with trees and pine needles in the foreground.

An infrared photograph creates a surreal image of Mount Teide poking through the clouds on Tenerife

MATTEO REDAELLI

Man with long dreadlocks and ash-covered skin sitting on sand next to a camel, with men on horseback in the background.

A Baba sits calmly by a resting camel at the riverbed of Varanasi in India, as horse riders thunder on the sand

SAWYER ALCZAR-HAGEN

Snow-capped Mount Fuji reflecting in a lake at sunset.

The golden beams of dawn light hit Mount Fuji and bounce off a lenticular cloud above the peak in a shot that took weeks to capture

MEGAN TAVAREZ

A man airborne above a crowd of people with their hands raised.

Devotees gather during the Ashadi Wari, a barefoot pilgrimage to Pandharpur in India. A participant dressed as a divine figure is thrown into the air

ARUN SAHA

A fox standing in a blizzard, highlighted by a light source.

The winner for natural world and wildlife: a lone blue Arctic fox in the Varanger peninsula in Norway, bracing against wind and snow

KLAUS HELLMICH

A line of penguins walking along the edge of an ice floe, with one penguin leaping into the water below.

A line of gentoo penguins waiting their turn to leap from the ice and into the chilly waters of Antarctica’s Southern ocean below

MARTIN SCHMID

A group of people relaxing outdoors, some sitting in chairs while one man lies on a mat, next to a makeshift outdoor kitchen area with a camper van.

Sebastian Szczepanowski’s slice of life at a Polish lakeside campsite won him a place on the lifestyle shortlist

SEBASTIAN SZCZEPANOWSKI

White horse rearing up on its hind legs.

A majestic young lusitano stallion, allowed to move freely, resulted in an almost sculptural image

LOREA HAUSHEER

Rows of fish with open mouths, tied together.

Neat rows of drying fish in a market

SOOMIN PARK

An audience is seated in a large, ornate hall with high arched ceilings, illuminated in vibrant purple and red lights.

A light show inside the Votive Church in Vienna creates the impression of an even bigger building

FALKMAR AMERINGER

Bird with outstretched wings flying over white snow.

The focused eye of a Blakiston’s fish owl, a nocturnal bird of prey that relies on hearing and eyesight to hunt

WONG CHUNG CHEONG

A young man dives headfirst off a concrete pier into the water while other people relax, some fishing, and some kids play on the pier with a large building in the background.

Children in Kadikoy, Turkey, play by the water on the first day of summer

MATTIA MASSAIU

A polar bear stands on an ice floe looking upward.

A polar bear stands on the edge of broken-up ice, surrounded by the bright blue of a partially frozen sea

WOUTER VAN HOFWEGEN

A horse and a French bulldog interacting on a boardwalk by the beach.

A dog and a horse with matching coats aptly stationed near each other at a beach in Imperia, Italy

PAOLO DELLEPIANE