THE World Photography Organisation is delighted to announce Independent Curator and Photography Consultant Monica Allende as the new Chair of the Professional Competition jury.
Also announced is the judging panel for the Sony World Photography Awards 2024, and forthcoming dates for the exhibition which returns to Somerset House, London from 19 April – 6 May 2024.
Now in its 17th year, the Sony World Photography Awards are one of the world’s largest and most prestigious photography competitions, championing the best contemporary photography from across the world and providing participating photographers with important international exposure and career-building opportunities.
Sony supports the awards to help with the continued development of photographic culture by offering a global platform to the talent of today. Entry to the awards is completely free and photographers are judged anonymously by a panel of industry-leading judges.
This year, esteemed Independent Curator and Photography Consultant Monica Allende is appointed as the new Chair of the Jury for the Professional Competition and curator of the Sony World Photography Awards 2024 exhibition at Somerset House, London.
Bringing her wealth of experience in the photography world, Allende has previously held numerous high-profile positions across the industry including as Artistic Director of both the Landskrona Foto Festival and the GetxoPhoto International Image Festival, and as former Photo Editor at the Sunday Times Magazine, where she launched the award-winning photography section Spectrum.
Allende is curator of the Blues Skies Project, which was shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2019 and lectures at the London College of Communication and EFTI (Centro Internacional de Fotografía y Cine) in Madrid.
Commenting on her appointment, Allende says: “I feel very honoured to chair the jury of such internationally renowned Awards and excited to enter into meaningful discussions about photography with expert jurors from around the globe. I hope to engage with varied perspectives in an innovative and collaborative process, and I look forward to seeing works that inspire me to pause, think and consider.”
This year’s judges bring a breadth of knowledge and expertise from varied photographic backgrounds:
Professional Competition
- Elena Navarro, Photo Curator, Producer, and Consultant, Mexico
- Mutsuko Ota, Editorial Director, IMA Magazine, Japan
- Elisabeth Sherman, Senior Curator, Direction of Exhibitions and Collections, International Center of Photography (ICP), United States
- Tanzim Wahab, Curator, Spore Initiative, Germany and Festival Director, Chobi Mela, Bangladesh
- Monica Allende, Independent Curator, Photography Consultant and Chair of the Jury
Open and Youth Competitions
Daniel Blochwitz, Curator, Foto Festival Lenzburg, Switzerland
Student Competition
Ravi Ghosh, Deputy Editor, British Journal of Photography, UK
In 2024, the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition opens at Somerset House, London from 19 April – 6 May.
Following the London exhibition and subsequent presentations in Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City and Milan, the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 exhibition travels next to Berlin where it will be on view at the Willy-Brandt-Haus, 17 November 2023 – 28 January 2024.
For more details please visit worldphoto.org.
Deadlines for submission across the Awards’ four competitions are:
Professional: 12 January 2024, 13:00 GMT
Open: 5 January 2024, 13:00 GMT
Student: 30 November 2023, 13:00 GMT
Youth: 5 January 2024, 13:00 GMT
All category winners of the Professional, Open, Youth and Student competitions will receive digital imaging equipment from Sony. In addition, cash prizes of $25,000 (USD) will be presented to the Photographer of the Year, $5,000 (USD) to the winner of the Sustainability Prize.
The winner of the Photographer of the Year title will also be rewarded with a solo presentation of their work as part of the Sony World Photography London exhibition the following year. All winning and shortlisted photographers’ works will be exhibited at the annual Sony World Photography Awards exhibition in London and will then be toured internationally.
The winning images will also be published in the annual Awards’ book.
