39 of the World’s Best Photos: Sony World Photography Awards Releases Winners From 55 Countries

Some of the world’s top photographers—the crème de la crème—have received accolades from the Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA), which recently announced the national winners of its global competition. Many of those winners have already proudly added the distinction to their Instagram pages, professional photographers’ websites, or CVs.

A whopping 415,000 images were submitted to SWPA 2023 and those were whittled down by about half for the Open Competition. Entries came in from 200 countries and regions across the globe—from Austria to Vietnam, from the U.A.E. to the U.S.A.

Devoted to fostering local talent on a global scale, SWPA announced their National Award winners on Feb. 7. These represent the highest achievements in photographic excellence from across 55 countries. All of the National Award winners will receive Sony digital imaging equipment and will be included in the SWPA exhibition and in their book.

Demonstrating mastery in their craft, the national winners as a whole, all vying in a single competition, display a stunning breadth of creativity—the full spectrum of cultural and artistic diversity. In the present selection, hand-picked by The Epoch Times for our readers’ perusal, you will embark on a world journey:

Daunting traditional riders are depicted in all their glory by U.A.E.-based photographer Oday Shanshal;

A sublime night celebration explodes with color during a fair in Latin America, seen through the lens of Mexican photographer Pável Vélez;

From the air, an ocean rendezvouses between a sun-kissed snorkeler and sea turtle is captured by Vietnamese photographer Thiện Nguyễn Ngọc;

In a chic, denim-concept portrait by Kuwait-based photographer Adil Javed, a little sass is served over the phone;

Adding a little mischief, a sneaky owl’s gleaming golden eyes peer into the camera of Protap Shekhor Mohanto from Bangladesh;

Tenderly, a youth bears his freckles without shame in American Angela Perez’s portrait;

Meanwhile, an acrobat on horseback dazzles in a black-and-white cultural exposé by Abdulla Al-Mushaifri from Qatar;

There are also active volcanoes, a Slovenian ski jumper, a Taiwanese rope skipper, and, of course, cats! And yet we have hardly scratched the surface; we invite you to savor them all with your own eyes.

Now, without further adieu, here is a selection of the winning photos: