Hunt for India’s best photographer begins

Last year’s winning image taken by Bisheswar Choudhury

New Delhi: The Sony World Photography Awards, one of the world’s most prestigious photography competitions, together with Sony Asia Pacific, today launches a competition to discover India’s best photographer.

India National Award is open to photographers of all abilities from India. Entries are free via www.worldphoto.org and photographers can enter any of ten categories. The judges will uncover and honour the best single image by a Indian national from across these categories.

This special award offers an amazing opportunity for budding photographers to have their work seen globally and be recognised alongside the world’s leading photographers.

The winner of India National Award will be announced on 18 March 2015. The winning photographer will receive the latest photographic equipment from Sony while two further photographers will receive runners-up prizes. All three photographers will have their work displayed alongside professional photographers from around the globe as part of the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition held in London from 24th of April to 10th of May 2015 and showcased online at www.worldphoto.org.

Each year the Sony World Photography Awards celebrates the very best international contemporary photography. The awards include: 15 Professional categories for serious photographers; 10 Open categories for enthusiasts; the Student Focus competition for higher education photography students aged 18-28 and a Youth Competition for photographers under 20.  

The winner of India National Award will be chosen from entries to the Open competition of the 2015 Sony Word Photography Awards taken by Indian nationals.

The Open competition includes ten categories:

●     Architecture

●     Arts & Culture

●     Enhanced

●     Low-light

●     Nature & Wildlife

●     Panoramic

●     People

●     Smile

●     Split second

●     Travel

The competition will close on 5 January 2015.  Entries will firstly be judged by WPO's pre-selection committee and a winner will be decided by a special judging panel including Astrid Merget, Creative Director of the World Photography Organisation.

Scott Gray, Managing Director of the World Photography Organisation comments, "The Sony World Photography Awards are committed to engaging with and supporting talented photographers from around the globe. It is for this reason that we are thrilled to be able to work closely with Sony Asia Pacific to identify the local photographers that are producing great work and pushing their own creative boundaries, so that we can raise their profile across the globe and provide inspiration to other budding Indian photographers."

Masaaki Hori, Head of Digital Imaging Business, Sony India comments: “The National Awards are a great vehicle to recognise talent on a regional basis and it’s extremely interesting to see the different styles emanating from India. We want to support these national talents and provide them with the best cameras and lenses so that they can focus on the creative subjects in front of them.”