Sony World Photography Awards 2013: Judging criteria and insights

The jury for the Sony World Photography Awards 2013 had to sift through 54,000 entries in the professional competition alone in their quest to uncover this year’s best imagery.

But how did they arrive at their decisions?

The twelve judges -  industry leaders from around the globe - reviewed each of the submitted bodies of work over a four-day period. Broken into four groups, each of which specialised in a particular genre of the industry, the judges critically examined and critiqued series after series from among the entries. After two days of culling the selections down to 7-10 shortlisted works in each category, the judges honed down on their top choices for the 2013 Awards, defending each selection in a roundtable discussion.

"How do we, the jurors, look at literally thousands of photographic stories and find the most potent examples of how photographs tell these stories?" Honorary Jury Chair Catherine Chermayeff asks. "So many photographs are made for so many reasons and so often the simplest are the most powerful."

Judging an award on this scale was far from an easy task, and many of the jury referred to it as 'overwhelming'. Yet, challenging as it may be, each one of the twelve jury members took their job during those four days very seriously. 

"It is a great responsibility we have to photographers, our colleagues and our industry and each entry must be given a fair evaluation", judge Juana de Aizpuru remarked on the third day of the process. 

'Ultimately', said judge Chien-Chi Chang, 'it comes down to the individual photographer’s command of using photography as a language'.

This year’s jury members were looking beyond those images that follow trends - they were instead seeking the 'extraordinary'.

"It’s best to create a trend rather than follow one," judge Monica Suder said. "What’s most successful is what’s most unique and most extraordinary. It’s different from the mainstream."

General trends that the jury remarked on included a heavy use of colour and saturation techniques, which didn’t exactly impress the panel.

"There was a lot of [high contrast] in still life and in architecture," judge Andrew Sanigar said. "One of the things that counted against [several series] was the post-production."


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The increased accessibility of digital editing software – now as accessible as built-in apps – has more photographers experimenting with filters, saturation and colour.  In order to be successful, Sanigar said 'there had to be something new that they were trying to say'.

Judging Current Affairs, Contemporary Issues, People and Arts & Culture, Fiona Shields commented: "It seems really fashionable at the moment to desaturate."

Alternatively, judge Macduff Everton said images submitted to the Travel, Landscape, and Nature & Wildlife categories were eliminated for their use of oversaturation.

Black & white photography seems to be making quite the resurgence. Tim Paton said: "It seems to be the year of black and white."

Thirty-one series chosen for the shortlist are black and white. One beautifully executed black and white series showcased the Matterhorn – a collection of images Chermayeff called 'majestic'.

[Check out galleries of all of the major categories]

Somewhat surprising to some of the jury members was the absence of Instagram and Hipstagrams’ influences. Despite a surge in desire to utilise post-production techniques coupled with mobile photography’s increasing popularity, few series manipulated by the mobile apps were found among the professional entries. Two series’ shot on iPhones however, did make it to the shortlist - Ed Kashi’s coverage of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and Satirat Damampai’s campaign, 'I’m Gay'.

In the end, what stood out to jury members the most was work delivered with clear, distinctive messages, possessing strong conceptual ideas.

"There are certain pictures, that when you see the pictures, you feel you see the personality of the photographers," said Chien-Chi Chang. "It should be just as distinctive as recognizing someone’s voice the moment I pick up the phone."

Referring to work of this quality, Tim Paton added, "I understood exactly what they were trying to say.  One per cent of photographers really manage that."

[Buy tickets for the exhibition here]

The Sony World Photography Awards 2013 judges were:
Chien Chi Chang (Magnum Photos Photographer, Taiwan),  Catherine Chermayeff, (Director of Magnum Special Projects), Andrew Sanigar (Comissioning Editor at Thames & Hudson), Juana de Aizpuru (Gallery Director, Galeria Juana de Aizpur, Spain), Fiona Schields (Picture Editor, The Guardian,UK), Tim Paton (Managing Director, Balcony Jump, UK), Bradei Estes (Associate Director, Galerie Nelson Freeman in Paris), Francesca Sears (Director, Panos Profile for Panos Pictures Agency, UK), Macduff Everton (Photographer, USA), Caroline Metcalfe (Conde Nast Traveller, Director of Photography), Monica Suder (International Consultant and Coach, Germany), Edmund Clark (photographer).