16 award-winning photographs from around the world
Popular Science...
From a solitary leopard in Botswana to a herd of buffaloes in Sri Lanka, and a church in Slovenia to a rocky landscape in Saudi Arabia, beauty exists in all corners of our humble planet.
The Sony World Photography Awards celebrates photographers who capture riveting images around the world in its 2026 National and Regional Awards. The competition aims to support local photographic communities with prizes awarded across Student, Youth, Open, and Professional categories. Across all its contests this year, more than 430,000 images from over 200 countries and territories were submitted.
A common murre faces the lens, its perfect symmetry reflecting the precision of nature.
Credit: © Alvaro Cubero Vega, Costa Rica, Shortlist, Latin America Regional Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026 ALVARO WILDLIFE PHOTO
The 2026 exhibition opens at Somerset House in London on April 17 and runs through May 4. Scroll some of our favorite images below and click to expand to full size.
This photograph presents an intimate act of communion with water, the source that nourishes life. Memory and the present merge, reminding the viewer that within its depths lies the force that sustains the land.
Credit: © Johan Garrido Rivera, Ecuador, Shortlist, Latin America Regional Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026 Johan Sebastian Garrido Rivera
A sunset over the Ustyurt Plateau desert, photographed close to the dried-up Sarykamysh Lake in Uzbekistan. The marks seen on the sun in this image are not dust or camera defects, but actual sunspots on the sun’s surface.
Credit: © Boris Nedosekov, Uzbekistan, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026
A solitary leopard descends a fallen tree in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, its silhouette merging with the vast, moody sky. Captured from a distance, the image evokes the predator’s grace, and the untamed freedom of its wild home.
Credit: © Greg du Toit, South Africa, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026
A rider charges forward with intensity and grace during the Yartung Festival in Manang, Nepal. This vibrant celebration of tradition and skill reveals the deep bond between horse and rider in the high Himalayas.
Credit: © Ajay Maharjan, Nepal, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026
Taken in the east of Sri Lanka at dawn, this aerial photograph presents a calm moment of daily life, as a herd of buffalo cross a shallow lagoon.
Credit: © Lahiru Iddamalgoda, Sri Lanka, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026
The mountains outside the city of AlUla in northern Saudi Arabia harmonise with their surroundings, day and night. Here, the Milky Way appears alongside a mountain called Muqrat al-Dabbous.
Credit: © Khalid Alsabt, Saudi Arabia, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026
Photographed at Lake Bled, Slovenia, this image features three of the area’s iconic buildings: the Church of the Assumption, the Bled Castle and St. Martin’s Parish Church.
Credit: © Meshaal Alawadhi, Kuwait, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026 meshal alawadhi
A praying mantis photographed on a thistle flower in the soft morning light.
Credit: © Nelya Rachkova, Kazakhstan, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026
A lone jellyfish glides through crystal-clear water, its glowing orange form moving between two realms: the surface above and the calm blue depths below. In this moment, the creature appears suspended between reality and dream, revealing the elegance of life beneath the sea.
Credit: © Pattarin Tridboonkrong, Thailand, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026
Photographed from above in Cappadocia, Turkey, a dramatic moment unfolds as a horseman charges through a cloud of dust, trying to lead a powerful herd. The dust and movement convey a scene of chaos and control, speed and symmetry, which captures the timeless bond between human and horse.
Credit: © Salem Alsawafi, United Arab Emirates, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026
The Upper Amazon Stubfoot Toad is one of the world’s most impressive amphibians. Having travelled thousands of kilometres and walked for several hours, the photographer encountered this male toad trying to attract a female in with his song, in San Martin, Peru.
Credit: © Juan Jacobo Castillo Barrera, Colombia, Winner, Latin America Regional Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026
Using the underside of a bridge to create a strong vanishing point, this photograph draws the viewer’s eye towards the horizon, where structure, water and city converge. The narrowing lines emphasise depth and scale, transforming the bridge into a visual pathway between the urban landscape and fading light.
Credit: © Eng Tong Tan, Malaysia, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026 Tan Eng Tong
Blakiston’s fish owl is a nocturnal bird of prey that relies on its keen hearing and sight for hunting. This carefully timed photograph captures one of the owl’s eyes, revealed through its flight feathers.
Credit: © Chung Cheong Wong, Singapore, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026 Wong Chung Cheong
This photograph anthropomorphises the angelica flower, revealing its radiant symmetry against a stark black background. The delicate branching forms resemble a graceful being extending outward, evoking movement and life. Through monochrome tones and precise detail, the image transforms a simple botanical subject into a poetic figure.
Credit: © Hanhoon Lee, Korea, Republic Of, 2nd Place, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2026 Han Hoon Lee
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