Top Winners of the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards

Drawn from the Professional, Open, Student and Youth competitions, the top winners of the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards were announced about a month ago in London. The winning images were held on display within an exhibition at Somerset House in London until May 6, 2019.

The winning candidate of the Photographer of the Year Award was Federico Borella, a freelance photojournalist based in Italy, for his photo series “Five Degrees”. The series focuses on male farming suicide rates in Tamil Nadu, Southern India, which is facing its worst drought in 140 years. Borella has more than 10 years of experience as a news photographer and reportage. His work has been published in both national and foreign magazines, agencies and publications. He was gifted $25,000 (USD).

By Federico Borella. Courtesy of federicoborella.com.

The Open Photographer of the Year was Christy Lee Rogers, a visual artist from Kailua, Hawaii, for her image “Harmony”. Harmony is part of Roger’s larger body of work, called Muses, which was inspired by the beauty and vulnerability of humankind. Rogers was gifted $5,000 (USD).

By Christy Lee Rogers. Courtesy of christyleerogers.com.

The Student Photographer of the Year was Sergi Villanueva from Universidad Jaume I in Spain for his photo series “La Terreta”, a storytelling and inclusive portrayal of Valencia through the local orange farming and harvesting community. Villanueva was gifted €30,000 of Sony digital imaging equipment for his institution.

By Sergi Villanueva. Courtesy of worldphoto.org.

The Youth Photographer of the Year was Zelle Westfall, an 18-year-old photographer from the United States, for her portrait created with the theme ‘Diversity’. Westfall was gifted the latest Sony digital imaging equipment.