Sony World Photography Awards 2013 (Pt.1)

Launched in 2008 the SWPA is one of the most prestigious contemporary photographic awards.
This year the competition saw the highest number of photos ever submitted with over 122,000 entries from 170 different countries.
The judges of the competition, composed of members of the World Photographic Academy, are changed annually and select a shortlist of the best talents in the Professional, Open and Youth categories.
Here is a collection of the shortlisted photos that impressed me the most:

Image Name: Game of Colors - Copyright: ©Anurag Kumar

Image Name: Prisons of South America - Copyright: © Valerio Bispuri

Image Name:Quite ritual - Copyright: © Mohammad reza Masoumi

Image Name: Urban cow - Jodhpur - Copyright: © Massimo Ferrero

Image Name: Fish out of water - Copyright: ©Ryan Pierse

Image Name: On the shore of a vanishing island - Copyright: ©Daesung Lee

Image Name: The Worshiper - Copyright: ©Chen Long Wen

Image Name: Urban Environment - Copyright: © Robert Gifford

Image Name: Personality and society - Copyright: © Ilya Pitalev

Image Name: house denim 2012 - Copyright: © Rafal Milach

Image Name: The Wealthy Roma of Buzescu - Copyright: © Ivan Kashinsky

Image Name: Fukushima, Invisible Pain - Copyright: © Florian Ruiz

Image Name: No Space Left - Copyright: © Ata Mohammad Adnan

Image Name: The Godfather - Copyright: © Peter Delaney

Image Name: Of the Tiger and Turtle - Copyright: ©Peter Mysticdidge Plorin

Image Name: Polar Bear - Copyright: ©Danny Cohen

Image Name: The Crescent. Rochester USA 2012 - Copyright: ©Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos

Image Name: Soul of Sir Hitchcock - Copyright: © Maciej Makowski

Image Name: Fire Dragon of "Fung Shun" - Copyright: ©Gilbert Yu

Image Name: Bubbles - Copyright: © Boguslawa Trela

Image Name: Burning - Copyright: © Christian Stangl

Image Name: Red Note - Copyright: © Javier Arcenillas

Image Name: Felix Baumgartner: Faster than the Speed of Sound - Copyright: © Balazs Gardi

Image Name: Ariadna in Urquinaona - Copyright: ©Berta Vicente

Image Name: Dubai Aerials - Copyright: ©Johannes Heuckeroth

Image Name: Monks of Myanmar - Copyright: © Scott Stulberg

Image Name: Portraits of Ethnic Minorities in Western China - Copyright: © Li Fan

Image Name: Zone of Absolute Discomfort - Copyright: © Justin Jin

Image Name: Mirella - Copyright: ©Fausto Podavini

Image Name: Workers - Copyright: ©Michal Giedrojc

Image Name: Cities from a taxi - Copyright: ©Daniel Duart

Image Name: Two girls walking into the forest - Copyright: © Yi-Hsien Lee

Image Name: Catching in Flight - Copyright: © Nicola Genchi

Image Name: Condemned – Nigeria’s Mentally ill - Copyright: © Robin Hammond

Image Name: Janelle Monae - Copyright: ©F. Scott Schafer

Image Name: The Heart of Iceland in the River - Copyright: © Andrey Ermolaev

Image Name: Rush Hour - Copyright: ©Manny Fajutag

Image Name: Nuba Refugees Along the Border of Sudan and South Sudan - Copyright: © Pete Muller

Image Name: Israel - Gaza War - Copyright: © Oliver Weiken

Image Name: a different view on seascapes - Copyright: © Bernhard Winkler

Image Name: Jaranan (Pentulan) - Copyright: © Diko Risanto

Image Name: The Syrian Massacre - Copyright: ©Fabio Bucciarelli

Image Name: A barber shop in the park provides cheap haircut and grooming - Copyright: © Mohammad Rakibul Hasan

Image Name: Levitate - Copyright: © Meaghan Ogilvie

Image Name: The last gladiators - Copyright: © Michael Löwa

Image Name: Up and Down the Nujiang Valley - Copyright: © Matteo Butturini

Image Name: Laleh - Copyright: © Tine Poppe

Image Name: White-handed Tree Frog - Copyright: © Hudson Garcia

Image Name: 14:00:00 - Copyright: © Martina Biccheri

Image Name: Face to Face - Copyright: © Christian Vizl

The above images together with the ones of all the shortlisted artists will be exhibited at Somerset House, London, from 26 April - 12 May as part of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition. If you are in London around that time this is definitely something you don't want to miss.
Tickets for the exhibition cost only £7.50 each and you can buy them here or, why not, try to win them here.
The images will also be published in the 2013 edition of the Sony World Photography Awards book.
Find more information about the 2013 SWPA Exhibition at worldphoto.org/2013exhibition

If you didn't have enough, check for more SWPA amazing pictures right here!

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