The Sony World Photography Awards announced today the overall winners of its 18th edition at a special gala ceremony in London, bringing together leading figures in the industry to honour this year’s winners and their achievements.

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The prestigious Photographer of the Year 2025 title was awarded to the acclaimed British photographer Zed Nelson for the series The Anthropocene Illusion. Nelson receives a $25,000 (USD) cash prize, a range of Sony digital imaging equipment, and the opportunity to present an additional body of work at the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 exhibition.

Nelson was selected from the 10 Professional competition category winners, who were announced at today’s ceremony, alongside the 2nd and 3rd place finalists in each category. The evening’s programme additionally recognised the overall winners of the Awards’ Open, Student and Youth competitions. Also honoured during the course of the evening was this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography recipient, the acclaimed documentary photographer Susan Meiselas.

Over almost two decades, the Awards have become a definitive annual moment for the discovery and celebration of contemporary photography. Each year the Awards celebrate the stories and images that shape our visual language and capture the imagination, offering a global perspective on this ever-evolving medium. The Sony World Photography Awards 2025 exhibition is on display at Somerset House, London from 17 April – 5 May, presenting over 300 prints and hundreds of images in digital displays, as well as a special presentation by Susan Meiselas.

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PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
The Anthropocene Illusion is a long-term documentary project, spanning six years and four continents, which explores the deeply fractured relationship between humans and the natural world. Taking the concept of the ‘Anthropocene’, a term for the current period in Earth’s history which is characterised by humans being the dominant influence on the environment, Nelson’s series focuses on humanity’s response to its impact on the planet. The project looks at artificial spaces, created by humans as a means to ‘experience’ and interact with nature, from safari parks, nature reserves and resorts, to natural history museums, zoos and green cities. Nelson uses these constructions as a lens through which to explore the dissonance between the human desire to stay connected to nature, and the continuous environmental destruction caused by human activity. Commenting on his win, Zed Nelson says: 'I'm very honoured for my work to be recognised by the Sony World Photography Awards. Over the last six years, I have explored how we immerse ourselves in choreographed and simulated environments to mask our destructive impact on the natural world – we have become masters of a stage-managed, artificial ‘experience’ of nature. Projects such as this take extensive research and a very long time to complete - the recognition of this Award really helps to now get the work out into the world and to be able to tell this vital story.’  
Commenting on Zed Nelson’s winning project, Monica Allende, Chair of the 2025 Professional jury says: ‘The jury applauded Nelson’s urgent topic and his ability to translate complex environmental issues into striking visual narratives. 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.’

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PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY WINNERS

The winning series in the 2025 Professional competition have been selected by a panel of expert judges. Each of the winning photographers displays an original approach to narrative and exceptional technical ability. As part of their prize this year, for the first time the Professional category winners were invited to attend Insights, a day of specialised sessions with industry experts in London. Drawn from leading institutional and commercial photography spaces, the expert speakers offered the winners their insights on ways to continue expanding their platforms and growing their reach. All of the category winners additionally receive Sony digital imaging equipment. To learn more about this year’s Professional winners and finalists, please visit worldphoto.org.

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OPEN PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
The Open competition celebrates the power and dynamism of a single photograph. Winning photographs are selected for their ability to distil a singular moment and evoke a broader narrative. The Open Photographer of the Year 2025 is Olivier Unia (France), who receives a
$5000 (USD) cash prize and Sony digital imaging equipment.  
Olivier Unia was chosen from the 10 Open category winners for his photograph Tbourida La Chute, which captures the danger and excitement of the moment a rider is thrown from their mount during a tbourida, a traditional Moroccan equestrian performance.
Commenting on his win, Olivier Unia says: ‘I’m very proud to be the Open Photographer of the Year in this major competition. It gives me the confidence to continue to share my work. I entered Tbourida La Chute, one of the photographs from a project I've been working on for the past two years about the Moroccan equestrian art form of tbourida, and I am pleased to see this image recognised.’

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OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO PHOTOGRAPHY

The prestigious Outstanding Contribution to Photography 2025 is awarded to acclaimed documentary photographer Susan Meiselas. Known for her collaborative approach to portraiture, and for shedding light on lesser-known narratives, Meiselas’ work has been instrumental in shaping contemporary documentary practices, and the conversation around participation in photography. More than 60 images by Meiselas, including excerpts from some of her landmark series, are on view at Somerset House as part of the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition, showing some of the key themes and narrative trajectories of the past five decades of her practice.

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