The Sony World Photography Awards - with 162 nations, happy winners, a London gala and the exhibition at Somerset House

The Sony World Photography Awards 2011 announce the winners. Photographers from 162 nations competed for the popular awards this year. There was a big gala at the London Odeon Leicester Square and the list of winners shows: this time, artists from Germany were one step ahead.

The most prestigious award, the L’Iris D’Or went to Argentinean Alejandro Chaskielberg. He managed to successfully compete against 105,000 submissions and convince the twelve members of the jury to award him the prize money of $25,000 plus the Sony Digital SLR Camera Equipment.

Following previous years winners David Zimmermann, Vanessa Winship and Tommaso Ausili, he is now also a member of the World Photographic Academy. “Using photography I have been able to present another version of the Parana River Delta and its community that has been photographically ignored throughout the years“, explains the winner.

Chan Kwok Hung won over the jury with his ‘Buffalo Race’ image and is now the proud holder of the title ‘Open Photographer of the Year’. In various categories, the awards went to Javier Arcenillas from Spain and Adam Hinton from the UK (amongst others). The Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award went to 77-year-old US-American Bruce Davidson.

Louis Boulet from the École Nationale Suérieure Louis Lumière accepted the Student Focus Award. He was the winner from a wide array of submissions totalling 200 institutions and can now hand over Sony Digital Imaging Equipment worth 45,000 Euro to his school.

This year, WPO and Sony also announced the partnership for the 2011/2012 Focus Award with Save The Children.

The winning images and pictures will be exhibited during the Award Festival at Somerset House, London until the 22nd of May.

GoSee presents the long list of lucky winners and a selection of the breathtaking pictures:

The Winners:

PHOTOJOURNALISM & DOCUMENTARY

Current Affairs
• Winner: Javier Arcenillas (Spain)
• 2nd: Robin Hammond (New Zealand) / Panos
• 3rd: Ahmad Masood, (Afghanistan) / Reuters
Contemporary Issues
• Winner: Javier Arcenillas (Spain)
• 2nd: Christian Lutz (Switzerland) / Agence VU
• 3rd: Balazs Gardi (Hungary) / basetrack.org
People
• Winner: Alejandro Chaskielberg (Argentina)/ Michael Hoppen Gallery
• 2nd: Denis Rouvre (France)
• 3rd: Lucia Herrero (Spain)
Sport
• Winner: Pavel Wolberg (Israel)
• 2nd: Javier Arcenillas (Spain)
• 3rd: Palmer + Pawel (United Kingdom)
Arts and Culture
• Winner: Amit Madheshiya (India)
• 2nd: Tommaso Bonaventura (Italy)
• 3rd: Mahesh Shantaram (India)

COMMERCIAL

Campaign
• Winner: Adam Hinton (United Kingdom) / Saatchi & Saatchi
• 2nd: Richard Bailey (United Kingdom)
• 3rd: Tomg Meng (China)

Travel
• Winner: Liz Loh-Taylor (Australia)
• 2nd: Javier Arcenillas (Spain)
• 3rd: Andrew McConnell (Ireland) / Panos
Lifestyle
• Winner: Saja Seus (Germany)
• 2nd: Frank Bayh & Steff Rosenberger-Ochs (Germany)
• 3rd: Fabrizio Cestari (Italy)

FINE ART

Architecture
• Winner: Alnis Stakle (Latvia)
• 2nd: Frank Meyl (Germany)
• 3rd: Frank Bayh & Steff Rosenberger-Ochs (Germany)
Portraiture
• Winner: Alain Willaume (France)/ Tendance Floue /Galerie Vu
• 2nd: David Kretschmer (Germany)
• 3rd: Paolo Verzone (Italy) / Agence VU
Landscape
• Winner: Florence Iff (Switzerland)
• 2nd: Guido Castagnoli (Italy) / Periscope Creative
• 3rd: Frank Day (United States)
Still Life
• Winner: Renhui Zhao (Singapore)
• 2nd: Peter Franck (Germany)
• 3rd: Charles Emerson (United Kingdom)
Conceptual
• Winner: Paul Gisbrecht (Germany)
• 2nd: Ana Cop (Canada)
• 3rd: Zhongyin Gao (China)