The Sony World Photography Awards 2026 have announced their overall winners across all four competitions, with Mexican-Indigenous visual artist Citlali Fabián taking the most coveted prize: Photographer of the Year. Three South African photographers were also shortlisted, a quiet but meaningful signal of the country’s growing presence on the global photography stage.
Fabián, a member of the Yalalteca Indigenous community from Oaxaca currently based in London, wins for her series Bilha, Stories of my Sisters. The work blends photographic portraiture with digital illustration to tell the stories of women from Indigenous communities across Oaxaca whose work spans law, linguistics, ecology, and the arts. The digital drawings layered onto each portrait are drawn from the subject’s personal history and cultural heritage, making each image a collaboration rather than a document. Fabián walks away with a $25,000 USD cash prize, a range of Sony Digital Imaging equipment, and a solo showcase at the 2027 edition of the awards.
Jury chair Monica Allende described the project as an act of visibility, noting that Fabián works with her subjects rather than simply photographing them, and that the series foregrounds women who have long been overlooked within the broader social and cultural landscape.
The Professional competition produced ten category winners selected by expert panels. Architecture and Design went to Joy Saha of Bangladesh for Homes of Haor. The Documentary Projects prize went to Santiago Mesa of Colombia for Under the Shadow of Coca, a study of the coca trade’s reach. Wildlife and Nature was taken by UK photographer Will Burrard-Lucas for Crossing Point. The full list of category winners spans Bangladesh, Ecuador, Norway, New Zealand, Italy, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, reflecting a genuinely international field.
South Africa on the shortlist
Three South African photographers earned shortlist placements. Sandile Ndlovu was shortlisted in the Documentary Projects category. Kalista Kemp made the Open competition’s Portraiture shortlist. Chanel Grobler, a student at the Open Window Institute in Pretoria, was shortlisted in the Youth competition. None of the three placed in the top three spots in their respective categories, but shortlisting in a competition that drew over 430,000 images from more than 200 countries and territories is a credible result.
It’s worth noting the contrast with how smartphone manufacturers have been pushing their devices as serious photographic tools. The HUAWEI Mate 80 Pro’s AI composition features represent one end of that conversation. The Sony World Photography Awards represent the other: work produced with intent, over time, in close collaboration with subjects.
Open, Student, and Youth winners
Elle Leontiev of Australia won the Open Photographer of the Year for The Barefoot Volcanologist, a portrait of self-taught volcano scientist Phillip Yamah standing on a volcanic rock bomb on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu. Leontiev, who received a $5,000 USD prize and Sony equipment, noted that she had stood in the London exhibition in 2018 and dreamed of being featured in it.
The Student Photographer of the Year was awarded to Jubair Ahmed Arnob of Bangladesh, studying at Counter Foto in Dhaka, for The Place Where I Used To Play, a series documenting the transformation of the Green Model Town neighbourhood under urban development pressure. The Youth Photographer of the Year went to 16-year-old Philip Kangas of Sweden, for a striking image of two firefighters carrying an artwork out of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm during a fire.
Joel Meyerowitz honoured
The Outstanding Contribution to Photography award for 2026 goes to Joel Meyerowitz, whose six-decade career is marked by an instinct for images that are, in the jury’s framing, at once revealing and enigmatic. A selection of his work, including excerpts from his 1966-1967 series Europa and two new artist videos, is on display at Somerset House as part of the awards exhibition.
The Sony World Photography Awards 2026 exhibition runs at Somerset House in London from 17 April to 4 May, presenting over 300 prints alongside digital displays and the Meyerowitz presentation.