The winners for the Open, Youth and National Award competitions of the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards were announced today by the World Photography Organisation (WPO).

Selected from over 70,000 entries from across the world, all three competitions were judged on a single shot and prizes ranged from the latest Sony digital imaging equipment to trips to London to attend the Sony World Photography Awards gala ceremony on 30 April 2014. The ten Open winners will also compete for a $5,000 (USD) prize and the Overall Open Photographer of the Year title.

139,554 images were entered in total to the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards: 69,114 Professional entries (winners yet to be announced); 65,512 Open entries and 4,928 Youth entries images. Entries to the National Awards were selected from the Open competition.

Professional category winners and the coveted L’Iris D’Or/ Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year title will be announced at a gala ceremony in London on 30 April 2014. The L’Iris D’Or winner will receive $25,000 (USD) and the Open Photographer of the Year will receive $5,000 (USD).

A full list of the winners of the National Awards programme can be seen at: worldphoto.org/nationalaward

Tickets for the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London are now on sale at: worldphoto.org/2014exhibition

1. Jump of Life

Cheung Lai San, Hong Kong

Hong Kong National Award – 1st Place

© Cheung Lai San, Hong Kong, 1st place, Hong Kong National Award, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards

In July each year, this heart-pounding scene of wildebeests migration repeats itself in Kenya savanna. It’s wildlife’s most dramatic moment! I am so excited to be able to capture this in my camera.

2. Rain in an ancient town

Chen Li, China

Open Travel – Winner

My photo “Rain in Ancient Town” was shot in southern China- phoenix Town, which shows the scene of people traveling in the rain during the rainy season. Tripod was used for this picture and I used slow shutter on purpose to combine the static and dynamic status of tourists. On the background there are old residential buildings and an old stone bridge, this combination enabled a more spiritual atmosphere for the photo.

3. Poor god

Arup Ghosh, India

Open People – Winner

“I was on a Durga Puja Festival vacation, travelling on a local train. A boy was singing devotional song and begging for alms. He was guised as a Hindu God, Lord Shiva. This is a common view in Indian Trains. But this boy was charming, bright and did have a melodious voice. He could not earn any money from the compartment and was sad. He was singing alone, standing by the door. Our destination was arriving and we approached the door. My camera was ready hanging on my neck, with the 20mm wide lens attached. I took 3 shots of the boy and got off the train. Before leaving, my daughter gave him an apple and I gave him some money. The boy moved to the next compartment happily. These children are from very poor family. Their parents work as contract workers on a very poor daily wage. They work all day long in the fields. The children sing and beg for money to earn bread for the family, when their parents cannot manage a contract. Yet they are cheerful, happy and friendly.”

4. What are you staring at !?

Chin Boon Leng, Singapore

Singapore National Award – 1st Place

A baby Orangutan peeking out from his mother’s embrace

5. Under the staircase

Holger Schmidtke, Germany

Open Architecture – Winner

I’ve seen similar images of staircases and so I try to do it my way. In a Office-Building in Cologne I went down to the Zero-Ground of the staircase. I spread my tripod to get a near bottom position and fixed it in the middle of this motif. With the wide-angle 10 – 24mm lens I took some Raw-Photos. The image ” under the Staircase ” is one of them developed with LightRoom.

6. Photographer story – Behind the Scene

Hairul Azizi Harun, Malaysia

Open Split Second – Winner

Being a photographer is not easy, people may not know the many challenges that photographers had to face to attain the perfect image. Sometimes the story behind the image is much more interesting than what is seen in the picture. It our job as a photographer to convey the story and breathe life to that image. Captured in a village in Kuantan, Pahang. Malaysia. The image was captured in high shutter speed and using available light only. This photo narrates the pains and gains of being a photographer, the heritage of an old house, forgotten traditional games and the old generations meeting the new which complimented each other very well.

7. A touch of a 17th century Dutch painting

Theo de Witte, the Netherlands

Netherlands National Award – 1st Place

Unfortunately you don’t have the winters anymore you used to have in the 17th century. In the beginning of 2013 I was lucky with a short time of winter. I had the idea to take a picture of an old Dutch landscape and was looking for a perfect location: which I found in Dwarsgracht, a small authentic village. Looking for the perfect light I’d been waiting for hours for the golden glow. I decided to find a high position, which I found in a tree for which I had to borrow a ladder from the locals to climb the tree. So I had a good view on the ice when the last skaters past by, they made the picture complete.

8. Starry lighthouse

Ivan Pedretti, Italy

Open Panoramic – Winner

“It’s a stitched panorama of 12 horizontal shots, 2 rows, each shot is a long exposure with tripod at 30 seconds shutter speed, f2.8 aperture and iso 3200 on canon 50D and tokina 11-16 2.8. I was about 4 am in the night of April 2013 for capturing the milky way arch form south to north in the lighthouse in Capo Spartivento, south Sardinia. The main difficulty was the right to overlap the shots, also another problem was the bright rays of the lighthouse, I was about 20m away, and I had to cover the lens at the time of the passage of the beam to avoid excessive overexposure, so I timed rotation times of the light beam consists of four rays and this process was repeated at least 6 times within 30 seconds of exposure and for 12 shots. I was fascinated by the landscape I saw in south coast of my island, the lighthouse made everything special.”

9. Fire Dragon

Chi Hung Cheung, Hong Kong

Hong Kong National Award – 2nd Place

It is the festival in Macau

10. Hummingbird

Kristhian Castro, Colombia

Colombia National Award – 2nd Place

Rufous Tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl) flying.

11. Samsara

Wolfgang Weinhardt, Germany

Germany National Award – 3rd Place

All scenes were taken in early 2013. This year i had the pleasure to join the pilgrims and devotees of the Maha Kumbh Mela – the largest spiritual gathering on the planet, held every 12 years. Furthermore I travelled different parts of Indonesia and South-India to complete my buffalo race-catalogue. An impressive trip to the Javanese miners of Kawah Ijen and other familiar insights was another highlight.

12. Exit

Michael Nordqvist, Sweden

Nordics National Award – 1st Place

The picture is a self portrait taken half a second after exiting the aircraft. I held the camera in my hand pointing it to the helmet to catch the sky and aircraft in the mirror of the visor. The jump was performed over Skydive Skåne DropZone in southern Sweden.

13. Not Superman

Irwansyah, Indonesia

Indonesia National Award – 1st Place

Pacu Jawi or a cow race can be called in Indonesian is a traditional game that is contested attraction in Tanah Datar district, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Every year, a cow race was held in rotation for four weeks in four districts in Tanah Datar district, namely Pariangan districts, districts propagation, The Five districts, and districts Tarab River.

14. Panco

Adhi Prayoga, Indonesia

Indonesia National Award – 2nd Place

Celebration

15. Tin Oven Builders

Minh Ngo Thanh, Vietnam

Vietnam National Award – 3rd Place

This is an image tile oven builders in Vinh Long city

16. Rodeo

Valerie Prudon, France

Open Arts & Culture – Winner

This photo was taken in Branxton, Australia in October 2013. After shooting some of the rodeo itself, I decided to go behind the scene to capture the typical environment of this kind of event. This is when I noticed this group of cowboys having a chat and relaxing. Their specific outfits, their boots, their hats and the horses in the background with the sunset made this photo authentic. This was THE moment and I am glad I took a few seconds to immortalize it.

17. The Mongol

Simon Morris, United Kingdom

United Kingdom National Award – 2nd Place

A hunter rests in his little house on the plains ..western Mongolia with his Eagle which is hooded and cat under the table!

18. The Calm Before the Storm

Sean Batten, United Kingdom

United Kingdom National Award – 1st Place

© Sean Batten, United Kingdom, 1st Place National Award, Sony World Photography Awards

A photo of one of the hallways at Canary Wharf tube station in London.

19. Untitled

Elly Prestegard, Norway

Nordics National Award – 2nd Place

My images are built up from different photos, layer by layer. I break down the motive, build up a new layer by repeating details. This process is repeated, over and over again through the process. Many of the images has been printed 150 x 150 cm, and are part of the art collection of KLP in Norway. I am fascinated by the rhythm in everything existing. By repeating fragments, it is like looking into a kaleidoscope where new connections create patterns, following the same rules as nature. The two seed pictures are built on the same fascination of nature, but are photos taken directly into the pot of seeds, and then reworked digitally, but not broken down in details as the others.

20. Untitled

Bobby Bong, Indonesia

Indonesia National Award – 3rd Place

21. The inhabitant of Szack of Ukraine and her horse

Mateusz Baj, Poland

Poland National Award – 1st Place

The photograph shows Tatiana-the inhabitant of Shatsk in Ukraine- with her horse. In Ukrainian villages, horses remain an indispensable work force in farm life.

22. Sahara Express

Rafael Gutiérrez Garitano, Spain

Spain National Award – 1st Place

Young Mohammed Salam –in the foreground- travels regularly on iron ore hoppers through the Mauritanian Sahara, from the open-pit hematite mine centre of Zouérat, to the commercial port of Nouadhibou. The journey is precarious and exhausting, but free transportation of goods provide him and his colleagues with a way to make a living. The so called “Sahara Express” was completed in 1963, three years after Mauritania’s independence as a french colony, and it is considered one of the longest trains in the world. Exceeding 2.5 km long, it runs daily almost 700 Km from the deep desert to the Atlantic coast and it takes about 17 hours. The 7.5 million tonnes of iron ore it transports every year in more than 200 freight cars, account for almost 50% of total exports, so it is vital for the Mauritanian economy, which has one of the lowest GDP rates of Africa.

23. Organillero

Cristian Alvarado, Chile

Chile National Award – 1st Place

Street musician walks away, is one of the few remaining traditions

24. Ripples in the calm lake

Dowon Choi, South Korea

South Korea National Award – 1st Place

There was no borderline between sky and lake by a thick veil of haze at dawn on that day. And the waves ruffled on the silence lake

25. Going Home

Neville Jones, Australia

Australia National Award – 1st Place

On the Li River near Xingping in China, Cormorant fishermen work the waterways before dawn amidst the spectacular limestone towers of the Karst landscape. The birds are trained to fetch fish from the inky depths but not swallow them. The fisherman accepts the fish from the birds who dive back for more. Here, still before dawn, the fisherman and his birds head for home.

26. Mourning ceremony Imam Hussein

Bohran Mardani, Iran

Youth Culture – Winner

Every year Shiites in the city of Bijar, Iran, hold Imam Hussein mourning ceremonies. Today, this ceremony has become a tourist attraction and people from all over the world come to see the event. This type ceremony can vary greatly in various Shiite cities, but in Bijar it is held on the streets.

27. Untitled

Andrew Cornaga, New Zealand

New Zealand National Award – 2nd Place

© Andrew Cornaga, New Zealand, 2nd Place New Zealand National Award, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards

Joseph Parker knocks out Francois Botha. Hydr8 Zero Explosion Boxing event by Duco Promotions. Trusts Stadium. Auckland, New Zealand. Thursday 13 June 2013.

28. Confesiones

Luis Chandi Páez, Ecuador

Ecuador National Award – 1st Place

A flash of divinity expressed in a beam of light in response to the prayer of the man! Picture taken inside the Church of the Convent of San Agustín de Quito in an excellent morning of March equinox, a wonderful show in a temple as part of the historic center of Quito declared “First Cultural Heritage” by UNESCO on 18 September 1978.

29. Facing the Deep

Patrick Ems, Switzerland

Switzerland National Award – 1st Place

30. Morning Fishing

Trinh Xuan Hai, Vietnam

Vietnam National Award – 1st Place

The image was taken in the morning at the Haitien Beach in Thanh Hoa Province in Vietnam. The fisherman was fishing to earn for living in while the thunderstorm was coming.

31. Lightning

Lise Sundberg

Nordics National Award – 3rd Place

This photo I captured after an hour of patience. Suddenly the sky turned white and this image appeared on my camera-screen.

32. Lightsnake

Holger Schmidtke, Germany

Germany National Award – 1st Place

This ArtWork on a hill is one of a few not temporary landmarks in the industrial Ruhr-Region of Germany, located in Duisburg. Some photos were taken on a clear summer late evening in the “blue hour” in front of this installation from public area. This image is the result of 5 single Raw-photos produced at least with NIK HDR Efex pro to one HDR-Image and finished with Adobe Lightroom.

33. Life and line

Turjoy Chowdhury, Bangladesh

Youth Environment – Winner

This photo was taken at Kawranbazar Slum, Dhaka; where people live along with two rail tracks on both of the sides and when there is no train, this rail tracks become their common space. I realized that this place has a lot of visual potential. One day, while returning home after a day long shoot (not having so interesting photos) suddenly I saw, one little girl is feeding a kid standing just right in the middle of the two tracks. At that moment the rail tracks were telling me that this should be my frame and I clicked. This photo fulfilled my thirst for that day.

34. First Snow

Vlad Eftenie, Romania

Open Low Light – Winner

Bucharest, Turda Blvd., 41 tram station. As the weather got worse in the evening, I hesitated to use the camera before. Before i spotted one interesting situation, with pedestrians walking against car lights, on a zebra. I moved on without taking the photo. Between two tram stations, sleet turned into snow. I went down to the first station and I told myself that I had to take a picture of the situation. Things where changing before me. The flakes had become chaotic as sharp cold wind became annoying. Cars where barely advancing, the light was difficult, the woman with umbrella was standing there petrified. I pulled out the camera and took the picture, handheld, marking the first snow of the year.

35. Fire Breath

David Carchi, Ecuador

Ecuador National Award – 3rd Place

36. Untitled

Minwei Yan, China

China National Award – 3rd Place

37. Children Day

Suthas Rungsirisilp, Thailand

Thailand National Award – 1st Place

I take it on 12 January 2013, at Dusit Zoo, Bangkok. The area is the fountain of the zoo but on The Nation Children Day of Thailand. They allow children to play in the fountain and they enjoy very much. I visit there and captured the joyful life with my Sony NEX 7 and 16 mm OSS.

38. Untitled

Paulina Metzscher, Germany

Youth Portraits – Winner

“The photograph was taken during my journey to China in November 2013 with my best friend. During my time in China, I really got into street photography and eventually fell in love with it. The photograph was taken while we were on a night train. We stayed there for 24 hours, so I was in a confined space for a quite limited amount of time. I got up early in the morning to get out and to capture the atmosphere you could find amongst the travelers. And then I found that girl who attracted my attention from the very first moment I saw her. Somehow, she perfectly conveyed a sense of the atmosphere that was present amongst the many travelers on the train. Most of them were waiting eagerly to reach their individual destinations, many of them looking out of the window and watching the world pass by as the train sped through the country. They were completely captivated by the landscape flying by. To me, the little girl stood out from all the other passengers on the train, as in the heat and speed of the moment, she took a minute to herself, completely unaware of everything that was going on around her. She just seemed to be in her own little world, and somehow seemed to have escaped the confined space of the train, even if merely in her thoughts.”

39. Smiles in the Cemetery

Milko Torres Ramirez, Peru

Peru National Award – 1st Place

A man sells balloons in a cemetery in the capital (Lima-Peru) in order to cheer families will remember their dead.

40. Muddy Smile

Alpay Erdem, Turkey

Open Smile – Winner

I was in Fethiye Turkey last summer for work. She wanted me to take her photo when she was in the air. I took this image on a fast shutter speed to capture her in the air jumping into the lake after coming out of the mud bath. The result was interesting. With the smile on her face and the way she jumped, she seemed to prove how insignificant her age was. she was the hero of the day. Photo taken in Dalyan – Fethiye