The shortlist for the Sony World Photography Awards has been announced. 10 professional and 7 amateur photographers have been shortlisted in each category from 44,641 professional photograph entries and 25,934 amateur photograph entries. The Awards will be celebrated in Cannes, France from 21st to 25th April 2008, with a top prize of $25,000 for the Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year.

Sony World Photography Awards Press Release

15/02/2008 - Sony World Photography Awards Shortlist Nominations Announced

Shortlist selected by the World Photographic Academy from thousands of professional and amateur entries

The inaugural World Photography Awards, sponsored by Sony, is proud to announce the shortlist nominations spanning across eleven categories. From a total of 25,934 amateur photograph entries and 44,641 professional photograph entries, the selected nominations have unearthed the images of today from an overwhelming number of submissions in its first year.

The shortlist has been selected by the World Photographic Academy, a judging panel of over one hundred of the industry’s elite. Each member has judged the categories relevant to their field of expertise, ranging from architecture to science, music to photojournalism.

Through a points based judging system, 10 professional and 7 amateur photographers have been shortlisted in each category; this shortlist number increasing in some cases where there was a tie. The Honorary Board will then go on to choose the category winners as well as the overall amateur and professional winners, all of which will be announced in April.

The Awards will be celebrated in Cannes, France from 21st to 25th April 2008 with a series of events and photographic exhibitions, culminating in a VIP Gala Evening and Awards Presentation on 24th April. The I’iris d’or will be awarded to the overall winner, who will gain the title of ‘Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year’ and be awarded $25,000. The winning amateur photographer will receive a $5,000 cash prize as well as the title of ‘Sony World Photography Awards Amateur Photographer of the Year’. In addition, Saatchi Online will make a selection of 100 images from the highly commended amateur entries, to be displayed on the Saatchi Online Gallery Wall in Cannes during the Awards and exhibition.

The Sony World Photography Awards aims to celebrate both the future of photography as well as pay tribute to the visions of the past. As part of this, a Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to an established photographer as an official recognition of their contribution to the industry.

This tribute to photography continues with an exhibition entitled ‘Legacy’; a celebration of photography past and present. Taking place at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes from 21st to 25th April, the shortlisted photographs from the Sony World Photography Awards will be complemented by images from some of the world’s most influential photographers. Curated by Magnum Photos, the collection will include the work of internationally distinguished photographers including Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger (the 4th founder and celebrating his 100th anniversary along with Cartier-Bresson this year), David Seymour, Robert Capa, Philip Jones Griffiths, Eve Arnold and Steve McCurry amongst others.

Scott Gray, founder of the World Photography Awards commented, “The shortlist - as nominated by the world’s leading photographers - is quite exceptional. The quality and diversity of images is a celebration of the industry in itself.”

Key Dates
Amateur category winners and Sony World Photography Awards Amateur Photographer of the Year announced
· Monday 7th April 2008
Professional category winners announced
· Monday 14th April 2008
Announcement of Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award at awards ceremony in Palais des Festivals, Cannes
· Thursday 24th April 2008

Shortlisted Nominations

Abstract
World Photographic Academy judges: Arnuad Adida, Tom Ang, Kevin Cummins, Lucy Davies, Damien Demolder, Lynn Goldsmith, Sonia Katchian, Idris Khan, Elliott Landy, Norman Lau, Joakim Leroy, Jose Luis Neto, Johanna Neurath, Leon Rose, Sue Steward, Stefan Wittwer

Professional Shortlisted photographers:
· Ricardo Felipe Alonso (ARGENTINA)
· Maya Barkai (UNITED STATES)
· Anita Cruz-Eberhard (UNITED STATES)
· Christine Gerhardt (GERMANY)
· Benjamin Antony Monn (GERMANY)
· Christof Pluemacher (GERMANY)
· Finbarr O’Reilly (CANADA)
· Fabio Rota (ITALY)
· Mark Somogyi (HUNGARY)
· Rob Wilkinson (UNITED KINGDOM)

Amateur Shortlisted photographers:
· Andreas Andersson (SWEDEN)
· Simon Brown (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Andrea Fortunati (ITALY)
· Ronya Galka (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Thomas Gravanis (GREECE)
· Kambiz Kashani (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Martin Kharumwa (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Panagiotis Vgenopoulos (GREECE)
· Allan Wallberg (SWEDEN)

World Photographic Academy judges: Carol Allen-Storey, Janette Beckman, Damien Demolder, Jim Fiscus, Mark George, Martin Kollar, Norman Lau, Gered Mankowitz, John Offenbach, Chris Parker, Federico Poggi, Pieter de Ras, Jack Reznicki, Leon Rose, Gary Shenk, Dennis da Silva, Gilles Taquet, Stefan Wittwer

Professional Shortlisted photographers:
· Fabrizio Cestari (ITALY)
· Andrea Daquino (GERMANY)
· Terence du Fresne (SWITZERLAND)
· Julia Fullerton-Batten (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Cormac Hanley (FRANCE)
· Nathan Jones (UNITED STATES)
· Anatol Kotte (GERMANY)
· Mel Lindstrom (UNITED STATES)
· Tim Macpherson (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Michael Schnabel (GERMANY)

Architectural
World Photographic Academy judges: Juana de Aizpuru, Simon Bainbridge, Damien Demolder, Stratos Kalafatis, Norman Lau, Joakim Leroy, Daniela Mrazkova, Jose Luis Neto, Johanna Neurath, John Offenbach, Chris Parker, Pieter de Ras, Friederike von Rauch, Brett Rogers, Martin Rogge, Andrew Sanigar, Dennis da Silva

Professional Shortlisted photographers:
· Robert Burton (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Tommaso Buzzi (ITALY)
· Alessandro Cane (ITALY)
· Livia Corona (MEXICO)
· Andrzej Furs (POLAND)
· Roberto S. Gomes (BRAZIL)
· Kees Hageman (NETHERLANDS)
· Petro Lucerni (ITALY)
· Michael Najjar (GERMANY)
· Lori Nix (UNITED STATES)
· Luis Ribeiro (PORTUGAL)
· Andy Taylor Smith (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Alessandro Tosatto (ITALY)

Amateur Shortlisted photographers:
· Guillermo Casas Baruque (SPAIN)
· Charles Betz (LUXEMBOURG)
· Sergej Bulychev (RUSSIA)
· Richard Gubbels (NETHERLANDS)
· Emilio Jose Mariel (SPAIN)
· Freddy Murphy (GUATEMALA)
· Diana Di Nitto (BELGIUM)

Fashion
World Photographic Academy judges: Arnuad Adida, Carol Allen-Storey, Janette Beckman, Damien Demolder, Guy Hepner, Noelle Hoeppe, Dafydd Jones, Stratos Kalafatis, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Daniela Mrazkova, Johanna Neurath, Chris Parker, Federico Poggi, Ed Robinson, Brett Rogers, Andrew Sanigar, Gary Shenk, Gilles Taquet, David Tay, Bob Willoughby

Professional Shortlisted photographers:
· Valeska Achenbach & Isabela Pacini (GERMANY)
· Christian Ammann (SWITZERLAND)
· Koray Birand (TURKEY)
· Fiona Campbell (UNITED KINGDOM)
· ?hha Cep??ht (RUSSIA)
· Jacob Ehrbahn (DENMARK)
· Katya Evdokimova (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Peter Franck (GERMANY)
· Bjoern Giesbrecht (GERMANY)
· Kirill Golovchenko (GERMANY)
· Philipp Jeker (SWITZERLAND)
· Sergey Kaptilkin (RUSSIA)
· Eunice Lieveld (NETHERLANDS)
· Andrea Massari (ITALY)
· Deborah Roffel (NETHERLANDS)

Amateur Shortlisted photographers:
· Tommaso Awerbuch (ITALY)
· Alexander Hafemann (GERMANY)
· Calvin Hollywood (GERMANY)
· Richard Inderwildi (GERMANY)
· Roy Palmer (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Erhard Schichor (GERMANY)
· Bart Zandbergen (NETHERLANDS)

Music/Performance
World Photographic Academy judges: Arnuad Adida, Janette Beckman, Adrian Boot, Hamish Brown, Julie Castellano, Kevin Cummins, Lucy Davies, Damien Demolder, Jim Fiscus, Mark George, Elliott Landy, Gered Mankowitz, Dylan Martinez, Terry O’Neill, Alex Proud, Guy Le Querrec, Martin Rogge, Leon Rose, Stefan Wittwer

Professional Shortlisted photographers:
· Csaba Aknay (HUNGARY)
· Antonio Amato (ITALY)
· Kadir Asnaz (TURKEY)
· Paolo Bonciani (ITALY)
· Penny Bradfield (AUSTRALIA)
· Gyula Czimbal (HUNGARY)
· Christian Demarco (CHILE)
· Katya Evdokimova (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Thomas Haltner (GERMANY)
· Pawel Laczny (POLAND)
· Aurelien Langlais (FRANCE)
· Eduard Meltzer (SWITZERLAND)
· Alberto Moretti (ITALY)

Amateur Shortlisted photographers:
· Tim Alban (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Carme Carme (SPAIN)
· Anton Coene (BELGIUM)
· Clelia Colonna (AUSTRIA)
· Charley Fazio (ITALY)
· Bob Garas (UNITED STATES)
· Kerry Grainger (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Evgeniya Grushanov (ISRAEL)
· Jupp Michels (GERMANY)
· Nicolo Parsenziani (ITALY)
· Lai Chu Wong (MACAO)
· Justyna Zdunczyk (POLAND)

Nature
World Photographic Academy judges: Juana de Aizpuru , Tom Ang, Julie Castellano, Damien Demolder, Ruth Eichorn, Bert Hoveling, Stratos Kalafatis, Elliott Landy, Norman Lau, Joakim Leroy, Kingsley Marten, Friederike von Rauch, Brett Rogers, Sudhir Saxena, Dr Barry Senior, Dennis da Silva, Sue Steward, Gilles Taquet, Tomasz Tomaszewski, Stefan Wittwer

Professional Shortlisted photographers:
· Thomas Brummett (UNITED STATES)
· Giacomo Brunelli (ITALY)
· Daniel Cox (UNITED STATES)
· Alena Dvorakova and Viktor Fischer (CZECH REP)
· Kerrick James (UNITED STATES)
· David Maitland (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Jarrett Murphy (UNITED STATES)
· Michael Schnabel (GERMANY)
· Anup Shah (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Miklos Teknos (HUNGARY)

Amateur Shortlisted photographers:
· Guillermo Casas Baruque (SPAIN)
· Hermann Dr. Brehm (GERMANY)
· Christian Broens (GERMANY)
· Sergej Bulychev (RUSSIA)
· Fabiano Busdraghi (ITALY
· Dmitriy Tischenko (RUSSIA)
· Peter Zwitser (NETHERLANDS)

Nude
World Photographic Academy judges: Arnuad Adida, Alvin Booth, Julie Castellano, Damien Demolder, Jim Fiscus, Mark George, Noelle Hoeppe, Bert Hoveling, Dafydd Jones, Stratos Kalafatis, Elliott Landy, Joakim Leroy, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Gered Mankowitz, Chris Parker, Federico Poggi, Alex Proud, Pieter de Ras, Jack Reznicki, Paul Smith, Roger Szmulewicz, Bob Willoughby

Professional Shortlisted photographers:
· Joshua Barash (UNITED STATES)
· Natalie Bothur (GERMANY)
· Rossana Cagnolati (ITALY)
· Dave Coba (GERMANY)
· Antony Crossfield (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Jaime Osorio Gomez (COLOMBIA)
· Natasha Gudermane (FRANCE)
· Dmitriy Konstantinov (RUSSIA)
· Anthony Marsland (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Michael Meyersfeld (SOUTH AFRICA)
· Paul Anthony Sleeman (AUSTRALIA)
· Robin Utrecht (NETHERLANDS)

Photojournalism/Documentary
World Photographic Academy judges: Carol Allen-Storey, Tom Ang, Simon Bainbridge, Janette Beckman, Adrian Boot, Claude Bussac, Delly Carr, John Chillingworth, Caspar Dalhoff, Lucy Davies, Damien Demolder, Jean Desaunois, Ruth Eichorn, Adrian Evans, Cristina Garcia Rodero, Mark George, Tomasz Gutowski, John Harrison, Dafydd Jones, Stratos Kalafatis, Sonia Katchian, Geoff Katz, Gary Kemper, Carl de Keyzer, Roberto Koch, Peter Korniss, Eric Larrouil, Norman Lau, Joakim Leroy, Susie Linfield, Vaclav Macek, Esko Manniko, Dylan Martinez, Hellen van Meene, Daniela Mrazkova, Grazia Neri, Johanna Neurath, Terry O’Neill, Nigel Parry, Anders Petersen, Federico Poggi, Guy Le Querrec, Ed Robinson, Brett Rogers, Martin Rogge, Andrew Sanigar, Sudhir Saxena, Gary Shenk, Mike Smith, Alan Sparrow, Phil Stern, Sue Steward, Aidan Sullivan, Roger Szmulewicz, Gilles Taquet, David Tay, Tomasz Tomaszewski

Professional Shortlisted photographers:
· Munem Wasif Abdul (BANGLADESH)
· Abir Abdullah (BANGLADESH)
· Marcus Bleasdale (NORWAY)
· Alena Dvorakova and Viktor Fischer (CZECH REP)
· Cedric Gerbehaye (BELGIUM)
· Massimo Mastrorillo (ITALY)
· Boniface Mwangi (KENYA)
· Moises Saman (UNITED STATES)
· Hartmut Schwarzbach (GERMANY)
· Francesco Zizola (ITALY)

Portraiture
World Photographic Academy judges: Arnuad Adida, Juana de Aizpuru , Simon Bainbridge, Janette Beckman, Hamish Brown, Claude Bussac, Julie Castellano, John Chillingworth, Kevin Cummins, Lucy Davies, Damien Demolder, Jim Fiscus, Mark George, Lynn Goldsmith, John Harrison, Noelle Hoeppe, Stratos Kalafatis, Sonia Katchian, Geoff Katz, Idris Khan, Martin Kollar, Peter Korniss, Elliott Landy, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Gered Mankowitz, Esko Manniko, Hellen van Meene, Boris Mikalhov, Jose Luis Neto, Johanna Neurath, Terry O’Neill, Chris Parker, Nigel Parry, Federico Poggi, Alex Proud, Jack Reznicki, Brett Rogers, Andrew Sanigar, Sudhir Saxena, Dr Barry Senior, Mike Smith, Paul Smith, Sue Steward, Aidan Sullivan, Roger Szmulewicz, Bob Willoughby

Professional Shortlisted photographers:
· Florian Boehm (GERMANY)
· Martin Bogren (SWEDEN)
· Renan Cepeda (BRAZIL)
· Andrea Daquino (GERMANY)
· Simone Donati (ITALY)
· Lucia Ganieva (NETHERLANDS)
· Rob Hornstra (NETHERLANDS)
· Ali Ihtiyar (CANADA)
· Sergey Kozodyorov (KAZAKHSTAN)
· Franco Pagetti (ITALY)
· Vanessa Winship (UNITED KINGDOM)

Amateur Shortlisted photographers:
· Fabiano Busdraghi (ITALY)
· Mara Fantini (ITALY)
· Maria Cristina Francesconi (ITALY)
· Arup Ghosh (INDIA)
· Darwin Guevarra (PHILIPPINES)
· Alen Popov (SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO)
· Zhou Cheng Wei (CHINA)

Science
World Photographic Academy judges: Tom Ang, Ruth Eichorn, Bert Hoveling

Professional Shortlisted photographers:
· Alex Conu (ROMANIA)
· Daniel Cox (UNITED STATES)
· Thomas Deerinck (UNITED STATES)
· Stefan Diller (GERMANY)
· Joerg Glaescher (GERMANY)
· Mark Harmel (UNITED STATES)
· Jacques Honvault (FRANCE)
· Joshua Jalbert (UNITED STATES)
· Kadir van Lohouizen (NETHERLANDS)
· David Maitland (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Vladimir Nefedov (RUSSIA)
· Thomas Schuppisser (SWITZERLAND)
· Anil Risal Singh (INDIA)
· Jan Stiff (UNITED STATES)
· Sotiris Zafeiris (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Szymon Zdunczyk (POLAND)

Amateur Shortlisted photographers:
· Urs Albrecht (SWITZERLAND)
· Erwin von Arx (SWITZERLAND)
· Amy Bramley (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Marcel Clemens (ITALY)
· Sara Dal Pont (ITALY)
· Evan Robinson (AUSTRALIA)
· Artur Szczepankowski (POLAND)
· Matthew Thompson (UNITED KINGDOM)

Sport
World Photographic Academy judges: Arnuad Adida, Delly Carr, Damien Demolder, Jean Desaunois, Mark George, John Harrison, Bert Hoveling, Geoff Katz, Gary Kemper, Idris Khan, Neil Leifer, Kingsley Marten, Dylan Martinez, Pieter de Ras, Dennis da Silva, Mike Smith

Professional Shortlisted photographers:
· Miguel Riopa Alende (SPAIN)
· Lev Borodulin (ISRAEL)
· Clive Brunskill (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Luis Henry Agudelo Cano (COLOMBIA)
· Steve Christo (AUSTRALIA)
· David Gray (AUSTRALIA)
· Phil Noble (UNITED KINGDOM)
· Victor Fraile Rodriguez (SPAIN)
· Howard Schatz (UNITED STATES)
· Ezra Shaw (AUSTRALIA)
· Robin Utrecht (NETHERLANDS)

Amateur Shortlisted photographers:
· Iris van den Broek (NETHERLANDS)
· Nimai Chandra Ghosh (INDIA)
· Abhijit Nandi (INDIA)
· Anoop Negi (INDIA)
· Yann Ryan (IRELAND)
· Christophe Schmid (SWITZERLAND)
· Andi Sucirta (INDONESIA)

WPA backgrounder
The initial concept for the World Photography Awards was conceived over lunch in Cannes in autumn 2005. Founder Scott Gray identified with the Commercial Manager of the Palais de Festivals a substantial gap in the photography market for celebrating what had been a revolutionary decade in the industry. The result was an Awards ceremony that would mark the way forward for both professional and amateur photographers and set a precedent for future decades.

Sony backgrounder
Sony first entered the photographic market in 1989 with the release of one of the world’s first digital cameras. Through the years Sony has continued to push the boundaries of excellence with each new addition to their range, including the market-leading Cyber-shot digital cameras and the Sony ? (pronounced Alpha) DSLR cameras. It is with great pleasure that Sony looks forward to the growing success of the Sony World Photography Awards in years to come.

Saatchi Online backgrounder
Saatchi Online was launched in 2006 in order to create a free global platform for artists all over the world to exhibit their work to a wide international art community. Now the world’s largest interactive website, attracting millions of visitors each day, Saatchi Online showcases the work of over 80,000 artists and art students. The site has proven to be an invaluable platform for artists, facilitating sales of over $100 million in its first year. The website has enabled collectors to acquire work directly from registered artists, free of any commission, and dealers can also benefit by using the site to discover new artists working all over the world. The site also provides information on international museum and gallery exhibitions, a daily magazine, global art news, a live chatroom and regular competitions. Saatchi Online is ranked in the top 300 websites in the world. www.saatchigallery.com

Photo Credit: © David Gray; courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards

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