
Last year offered innumerable compelling subjects to photographers around the world. The 2021 Sony World Photography Awards honor the best single images from 2020. Images are judged within one of the following ten categories: architecture, creative, landscape, lifestyle, motion, natural world & wildlife, object, portraiture, street photography, and travel. While we are all still making sense of 2020, the ten category winning images below will help us remember and reflect upon a year like no other.
Image Descriptions Provided by World Photography Organization

"Electric storm above a solitary tree in the lavender fields of Brihuega, Guadalajara, Spain."

"A woman dries trays of fish at Long Hai fish market in the Vung Tau province of Vietnam. Thousands of trays of scad are dried on rooftops and in yards by hundreds of workers. I came to Long Hai on a photo trip and was overwhelmed by the scale of the fishing village."

"A young girl shows off her skills, diving from a cliff on the island of Lokrum in Croatia."


"Autumn of 2020…Pandemic, lockdown, solitude, memories…"

"Another side of childhood: contemplation and calm."

"During the coronavirus pandemic, the Health Affairs unit of Ankara Municipality sprays all public transportation, day and night."

"With this image, I wanted to portray a hybrid African-Victorian: my way of probing the stereotypical contextualization of the black female body. I provide an alternative version of reality, where dualities fuse to create a new visual language. Taking a Victorian dress and merging it with traditional shona cooking utensils was my way of showing a multifaceted identity."

"The stairs at the Hyatt hotel in Düsseldorf, Germany."

"Summer, Mediterranean Sea, Spain, Alicante, beach and morning walk: a way of life."

"Electric storm above a solitary tree in the lavender fields of Brihuega, Guadalajara, Spain."

"A woman dries trays of fish at Long Hai fish market in the Vung Tau province of Vietnam. Thousands of trays of scad are dried on rooftops and in yards by hundreds of workers. I came to Long Hai on a photo trip and was overwhelmed by the scale of the fishing village."
Jeremy Howell
Jeremy Howell is the Co-Creator and Editor-In-Chief of Art & Object.