Congratulations to Federico Borella, from Italy, for receiving the 2019 Photographer of the Year award for Five Degrees.

Borella’s series Five Degrees, which documents male suicide in the farming community of Tamil Nadu, Southern India, was praised by the judges for its “sensitivity, technical excellence and artistry in bringing to light a global concern.”

He walked away with $25,000, together with photographic kit courtesy of the competition sponsor Sony.

Borella was one of 10 Professional competition category winners.

The full list is as follows:

Architecture: Stephan Zirwes, Germany, for series Cut Outs – Pools 2018

Brief: Rebecca Fertinel, Belgium, for series Ubuntu – I Am Because We Are 

Creative: Marinka Masséus, Netherlands, for the series Chosen [not] to be 

Discovery: Jean-Marc Caimi & Valentina Piccinni, Italy, for the series Güle Güle

Landscape: Yan Wang Preston, UK, for the series To the South of the Colourful Clouds 

Natural World & Wildlife: Jasper Doest, Netherlands, for the series Meet Bob

Portraiture: Álvaro Laiz, Spain, for the series The Edge

Sport: Alessandro Grassani, Italy, for the series Boxing Against Violence: The Female Boxers Of Goma 

Still Life: Nicolas Gaspardel & Pauline Baert, France, for the series Yuck

This year saw a record-breaking number of entries with more than 327,000 images entered into the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards four competitions: Professional, Open, Student and Youth.

The 2019 Open Photographer of the Year is awarded to Christy Lee Rogers, from the USA, for her image Harmony.
Rogers wins $5,000 (USD).

Villanueva wins $30,000 of Sony digital imaging equipment for his institution: Universidad Jaume I.

The 2019 Youth Photographer of the Year is awarded is Zelle Westfall, from the USA, for her striking portrait Abuot, created in response to the theme ‘Diversity.’ Westfall is awarded the latest Sony digital imaging equipment.

Images from this year’s winners, together with shortlisted and commended works, are now on display at the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at Somerset House, London.

The exhibition runs until May 6, before going on tour around the world. Images also feature in a book that accompanies the awards.