The World Photography Organisation is a global platform for photography initiatives. It was established in 2007 by CEO Scott Gray and involves people and organisations from more than 180 countries. The World Photography Organisation hosts a year-round portfolio of events including the Sony World Photography Awards, and PHOTOFAIRS—art fairs dedicated to presenting fine art photography and moving image. The company also creates, produces and delivers photographic events for a variety of partners, from exhibitions of individual artists to platforms on the subject of photography involving artists and curators from over 20 countries.
Sony World Photography Awards
Created by the World Photography Organisation, the Sony World Photography Awards are held annually. The awards are for photography from the past year and across a variety of photographic genres. All entries to the awards four competitions are free. More than 1.5 million images from 200+ countries and territories have been entered to the awards since their inception.
Competitions, jury and academy
The Sony World Photography Awards features four competitions:
Professional – bodies of work across 10 categories
Open – the best single images across 10 categories
Youth – work from young photographers aged 12 to 19
Student – work from photography students
The awards are judged annually by museum and gallery directors, curators, publishers, writers and artists. They are also supported by the World Photographic Academy.
Outstanding Contribution to Photography
Each year the Sony World Photography Awards honor one selected person / chosen people with its Outstanding Contribution to Photography prize. Past recipients of this prize include:
The Sony World Photography Awards ceremony is annually held in London each April, and followed by an exhibition of the year's winning and shortlisted works at Somerset House in London. The artworks are then shown around the world as part of the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition tour. Winning photographers also share cash prizes, Sony digital imaging equipment, publication in the annual Sony World Photography Awards book. Overall and Professional category winners are also flown to the London Awards ceremony.
Photofairs
The World Photography Organisation created the Photofairs brand in 2014. Its aim is to hold boutique events of traditional still photography through to large-scale installations, video works and the cutting edge of technology.
Overview
Photofairs present fine art photography and moving image from galleries and their artists for collectors. There are also VIP and public programs. Photofairs takes place annually Shanghai each September and has previously help two editions in San Francisco.
Launched in 2015, the Zeiss Photography Award is a collaboration between the World Photography Organisation and Zeiss. The international photography contest annually invites photographers to submit bodies of work addressing a selected theme. All entries are free and the jury are specifically looking for artworks with a strong narrative. Winners receive €12,000 worth of Zeiss lenses, €3,000 to cover travel costs for a photography project, an exhibition in London and the opportunity to work with Zeiss and the World Photography Organisation.
