An orange mountain range glows in the afternoon sun. Sheets of fresh laundry blow in the urban city wind. A comet streaks through the clear night sky. These are just some of the exquisite shots within this year’s Sony World Photography Student & Youth Awards shortlist. The Student Award invited 18-30 year old artists to enter images according to the topic of Home. The resulting pictures highlight topics of identity and belonging, showing the nuanced stories and conversations they engage with as they develop their practices. Also included are the nominees of the Youth competition, comprising 12-19 year olds. Entrants were asked to respond to the brief Through Your Eyes. Here, we see a thoughtful engagement with the natural world, the light pollution in Belgium to the serene scenery of the Cornish seaside. These are some of the shots we love, worthy in their exploration of curiosity and resilience.
Chengchen Wang, Snow Mountain at Sunset
China | Youth Competition
“This photo was taken at the beginning of the year, when the sun slowly set and the sunset hit
the snow mountain of Yala. It looked so holy, so I took this photo.”
Kas Christiaens, Keep Me Awake
Belgium | Youth Competition
“As an artist interested in nature, I became aware that light pollution is a major factor affecting the sky’s clarity. I live in Belgium, a small country with a large population living in the countryside, so there is light pollution everywhere. The red light in this image is from a street lantern, the blue light from a nearby city.”
Joyce Xu, Self-portrait
Australia | Youth Competition
“In June 2023, I took this self-portrait in a photo studio. I was in an introspective mood, grappling with an inner turmoil, torn between my connection to Chinese culture and tradition and my hope to liberate myself from self-imposed constraints linked to my heritage. This image represents a quest for belonging.”
Yufei Ma, Intermission
China | Student Competition
“The Intermission project began with a spring sunset casting a soft glow on the clothes drying on my family’s rooftop, transporting me back to childhood evenings at my grandmother’s home. This nostalgia inspired me to capture the essence of everyday traditions in our fast-paced world.”
Kazi Arifujjaman, Chantal Home
Bangladesh | Student Competition
“A chatal is a place where paddy (raw rice) is boiled, dried in the sun and threshed to be made into prepared rice – the staple food of Bangladesh. Families across the country work together in a chatal, which is also their place of residence. As families from different cultures come together, it becomes like a large house.”
Sebastián Fernández Lora, Comet Falls to Earth
Spain | Youth Competition
“This image is of comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura), which, close to the horizon, appears to be falling onto Earth. This photo was taken on the morning of 8 September, shortly before sunrise, from a rooftop.”
Daniel Murray, Lonely Surfer
United | Youth Competition
“I took this picture in Newquay, Cornwall, at the start of summer to capture the figure on the beach. I felt that this moment summed up Cornwall quite nicely”
Gaston Zilberman, Lake Poopó’s Disappearance: The Uru Community’s Tale of Resilience
Argentina | Student Competition
“Rufino’s indigenous Uru community had lived in harmony with the waters of this ancient lake for
generations, nurturing a profound bond that sustained their lives and preserved their unique
cultural identity. Today, however, their way of life is marked by profound transformation, as climate
change-induced droughts and industrial contamination caused Lake Poopó to disappear entirely by 2016.”
Sony World Photography Awards | worldphoto.org
