The internationally acclaimed Sony World Photography Awards, one of the world’s leading free photography competitions, is now in its 14th year. Recently, the judges released the best submissions they received across multiple categories, from wildlife and architecture to sports and portraits.
More than 100 photographers were shortlisted for the competition alongside the category winners, with the latter now considered for the overall title and a $5,000 prize. Here are some of our favorites.
Locust Invasion in East Africa by Luis Tato, 1st place Wildlife & Nature section. Herny Lenayasa, a Samburu man and chief of the settlement of Archers Post tries to scare away a massive swarm of locust ravaging an area next to Archers Post, Samburu County, Kenya on April 24, 2020. A locust plague fueled by unpredictable weather patterns up to 20 times larger than a wave two months earlier is threatening to devastate parts of East Africa. Locust has made already a devastating appearance in Kenya, two months after voracious swarms -some billions strong- ravaged big areas of land and just as the coronavirus outbreak has begun to disrupt livelihoods. In spite of coronavirus-related travel restrictions, international experts are in place to support efforts to eradicate the pest with measures including ground and aerial spraying. The Covid-19 pandemic has competed for funding, hampered movement and delayed the import of some inputs, including insecticides and pesticides. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called the locust outbreak, caused in part by climate change, “an unprecedented threat” to food security and livelihoods. Its officials have called this new wave some 20 times the size of the first.