The Sony World Photography Awards 2025 have announced this year’s winners. This year’s biggest honor, Photographer of the Year 2025, goes to British photographer Zed Nelson. His poignant and powerful project, The Anthropocene Illusion, brought him the first place in this year’s contest. As always, other category winners are here as well, so let’s go through all of them and admire extraordinary photography.
Sony World Photography Awards 2025 Overall Winner: Zed Nelson
Spanning six years and four continents, Nelson’s long-term documentary series explores humanity’s increasingly artificial relationship with nature. It goes from curated nature experiences in safari parks and museums to the surreal aesthetics of green cities. In each of the images, Nelson reveals the unsettling paradox of our time — our desire to stay connected to the natural world paired with the damage we continually inflict upon it.
Monica Allende, Chair of the 2025 jury, praised Nelson’s work as a “striking visual narrative” that “compels viewers to question their own role in this paradox.”
“The Anthropocene Illusion illustrates a world where the boundaries between the real and the artificial blur, where the wild survives in controlled enclosures, and where human nostalgia for nature is expressed through spectacle rather than action. Nelson’s work compels viewers to question their own role in this paradox and consider the consequences of a society increasingly distanced from the natural world. This timely body of work tells one of the most important stories of our age, and is now more critical than ever.”
As part of his prize, Nelson receives $25,000, Sony gear, and an opportunity to exhibit new work at the 2026 awards. And other than the overall victory, his series also took the first place in the Wildlife and Nature category.
A Global View Through the Professional Competition
The Sony World Photography Awards 2025 also celebrated excellence across ten Professional categories. Winners tackled everything from social divisions and environmental traditions to surreal design and daring creativity. Here are the categories the contest covers:
Architecture & Design
Creative
Documentary Projects
Environment
Landscape
Perspectives
Portraiture
Sport
Still Life
Wildlife & Nature
Each winner participated in a new initiative called Insights, a one-day summit with industry leaders designed to help them grow their platforms and visibility. It’s a thoughtful evolution of the Awards’ mission to not only honor but support photographers worldwide.
Open, Student, And Youth Winners Share Unique Visions
Olivier Unia from France won the Open Photographer of the Year award for his dynamic image, Tbourida La Chute. This image captures the split-second drama of a Moroccan equestrian spectacle. Unia’s single frame manages to tell a culturally rich story with cinematic flair.
In the Student category, Micaela Valdivia Medina of Peru (studying in Chile) received accolades for The Last Day We Saw the Mountains and the Sea, an emotional exploration of women’s lives in Chilean prisons. “To talk about and photograph prison spaces is never easy, but it is necessary,” she shared.
And 16-year-old Daniel Dian-Ji Wu from Taiwan was named Youth Photographer of the Year for his image of a skateboarder silhouetted at sunset in Venice Beach—a beautiful blend of spontaneity and atmosphere.
Outstanding Contribution to Photography: Susan Meiselas
This year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography award went to legendary documentary photographer Susan Meiselas. Known for her deeply humanistic and collaborative approach, Meiselas’ work over five decades has shaped how we see and participate in contemporary documentary photography. More than 60 of her works are featured in a dedicated section of the 2025 exhibition at Somerset House in London.
Don’t Miss the Sony World Photography Awards 2025 Exhibition
The Sony World Photography Awards 2025 exhibition is now open at Somerset House and runs through May 5. It offers you a chance to immerse yourself in more than 300 prints and countless digital displays. If you’re in London or planning a visit, this exhibition is a must-see for anyone passionate about photography and storytelling. And even if you can’t make it, the full winners’ gallery is available on SWPA website. And, as always, we bring you the category winners and runner-ups below.
