THE WINNERS OF the Open competition and National Awards of the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards have been announced.
This year saw a record breaking 320,000 submissions by photographers from more than 200 countries.
Selected from hundreds of thousands of entries worldwide, Irish photographer Kenneth O’Halloran was the winner of the Ireland National Award and was shortlisted in the Open Portrait category.
O’Halloran, an editorial photographer based in Dublin, won the 2018 Ireland National Award for a photograph titled Winnie. He met Winnie with her family at the annual Africa Day celebrations in Farmleigh House in Dublin.
He was commissioned by the Irish Times to cover the event and photographed Winnie with two African girls who were competing in The Miss Africa competition. He noted that all were three girls wearing tiaras on the day.
O’Halloran said Winnie was celebrating her first Holy Communion with her parents, brothers and sisters.
I also took a few family photographs and promised to deliver the images in person to their home at a later date. Two weeks later I delivered the photographs and spoke to Winnie’s mother about the possibility of making a portrait of her as a solitary figure, only this time using the back garden as a location.
This is the 11th edition of the awards – which are regarded as the world’s most diverse photography competition.
The Irish photographer added, “I am delighted to have won at the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards. It’s a great honour to be selected from such a large number of entries.”
The National Awards winners were selected as the strongest single image taken by a local photographer across nearly 70 countries, while the 10 Open category winners were chosen by an expert panel of judges as the world’s very best single photographs.
All Open category and National Award winners receive the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony.
10 Open winners
Photographers chose a variety of stunning landscapes, personal portraits, touching encounters and sporting moments as their inspiration.
“In choosing the winners, the images all had to have something special – whether it be composition, impact, skill, a portrayal of a unique event or informing in a new way. Above all else, each winner had to be an exceptional photograph.” Zelda Cheatle, Chair of Judges, Open, Youth & National Awards
The ten Open category winners will now go on to compete for the Open Photographer of the Year, winning $5,000 (€4,080).
This photographer, along with the professional categories winners, will be announced in London on April 19.
The 10 Open winners are:
The winning work will be published in the 2018 Awards’ book and shown at the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London from 20 April – 6 May alongside the work of all the Awards’ winning, shortlisted and commended photographers.
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