(CNN) — An aerial view of a volcano, a shot from inside a damaged building in Ukraine and a portrait of a dog were among the best photographs taken around the world last year, according to juries at the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards.
The World Photography Organization on Tuesday announced the finalists for the 10 professional categories of the annual contest, which cover portraiture, sports, landscapes and the environment. The winners will be announced on April 13, along with those of the youth and student contests, as well as the categories open to amateur photographers.
In this year’s contests, more than 415,000 images were submitted, of which more than 180,000 opted for the professional categories. The organizers claim that in 2023 the highest number of nominations in the 16-year history of the awards has been registered.
A women’s soccer team poses for photographer Ebrahim Noroozi, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Credit: Ebrahim Noroozi/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
In each category, three finalists were chosen, as well as between five and seven shortlisted photographers. Selected images were taken by photographers from more than 30 countries in locations ranging from an abandoned cement factory in China to a fish market in Somalia.
A jury made up of curators, museum personalities and photo editors based their decisions on both the technical skill of the entrants and whether they demonstrated “an original approach to storytelling,” according to a press release. Jury President Mike Trow described this year’s winners as “exciting and challenging”.
“They spanned the deep and ongoing debates around narrative truth and agency in art,” he added, “as well as broader views on the environment, politics, and society.”
Here are some of the photographs selected by the jury for the professional categories:
Credit: Sasha Maslov/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
Photographer Sasha Maslov was shortlisted for this portrait, taken in a damaged residential building in the city of Irpin, Ukraine.
Credit: Julia Christe/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
German photographer Julia Christe was shortlisted in the wildlife and nature category for her animal portraits.
Credit: Nicola Zolin/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
Italian photographer Nicola Zolin captured tributes to the late soccer star Pelé in the Brazilian city of Santos.
Credit: Cesar Dezfuli/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
Photographer César Dezfuli documented lava flows from a volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands.
Credit: Hugh Kinsella Cunningham/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
Peace activist Liberata Buratwa, pictured in her garden in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, poses for photojournalist Hugh Kinsella Cunningham.
Credit: Tariq Zaidi/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
Photographer Tariq Zaidi was recognized for his series on the bustling Hamar Weyne fish market in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Credit: Marylise Vigneau/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
Marylise Vigneau’s portrait of World War II veteran Acek Urmanbetov. The 98-year-old veteran, who lost a leg in fighting, lived in the Kyrgyz SSR after the war. He wrote a book about women who raised their children alone after their husbands went to work in Russia and never returned after the fall of the USSR.
Credit: Martin Broen/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
A shortlisted image by American underwater photographer and diver Martin Broen.
Credit: Corey Arnold/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
Photographer Corey Arnold documented the relationship between a North Carolina couple and the bears that appear in their backyard.
Credit: George Steinmetz/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
An aerial shot by George Steinmetz shows the sorting of sun-dried red chillies on a family farm near Guntur in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
Credit: Simone Tramonte/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
A view of the Middelgrunden offshore wind farm, taken from a beach in Copenhagen, Denmark, by photographer Simone Tramonte.
Credit: Ronald Hoogendoorn/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
Qualified in the sports category, Ronald Hoogendoorn captured this image of Italian volleyball player Paola Egonu during last year’s Women’s World Championship in the Netherlands.
Credit: Zhu Zhu/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
This striking image, by Canadian photographer Zhu Zhu, was shortlisted in the wildlife and nature category.
Credit: Thomas Morel-Fort/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
French photographer Thomas Morel-Fort was included for his series documenting the fate of a young Senegalese horseman, Fallou Diop.
Credit: Andres Gallardo Albajar/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
Spanish photographer Andrés Gallardo Albajar was recognized in the architecture and design category for his series documenting the work of the late architect Ricardo Bofill.
Credit: Mingrui Liu/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
Chinese photographer Mingrui Liu was shortlisted in the documentary projects category.
Credit: Jonas Kako/Sony World Photography Awards 2023
The Hoover Dam, on the border of the states of Nevada and Arizona, seen by the German photographer Jonas Kako.
