A series of portraits paying homage to late photojournalist Anton Hammerl, who was killed during the 2011 Libyan Civil War, have won the top prize at the Sony Photography Awards 2023.
Edgar Martins was named Photographer of the Year with his collection titled Our War.
The prestigious awards, organised in collaboration with the World Photography Organisation, announced this year’s winners at a gala in London earlier this week.
Martins won the competition’s overall grand prize, including $25,000 and a range of Sony photography equipment.
His work took him to Libya in an attempt to find his friend’s remains after he was killed by Libyan militia. He was brought in covertly by a petrol smuggler and due to volatile conditions, soon realised he would not be able to carry out a thorough investigation. Instead, he used photography to “tell a story without witness, testimony, evidence or subject".
“It is a huge honour to be recognised and although I am philosophical about awards and the subjective nature of someone’s choice, knowing that there were over 180,000 entries to this year’s Professional competition, is very humbling,” Martins said. “In this case, it is also quite an emotional experience because I get to honour my friend on a world stage and bring attention to the family’s plight to find his remains. There’s no award that has the reach of the Sony World Photography Awards.”
Martins was selected from 10 category winners of the Professional competition, who were also announced at the gala, alongside the overall winners of the awards’ Open, Youth and Student competitions.
Alessandro Cinque, from Italy, was announced as the first winner of the Sustainability Prize, developed in collaboration with the United Nations Foundation and Sony's Picture This initiative. The $5,000 prize recognises the stories, people and organisations whose actions highlight one of the UN's environmental Sustainable Development Goals.
Full list of award winners
Architecture & Design
Winner: Fan Li (China Mainland) for his series Cement Factory
Creative
Winner: Lee-Ann Olwage (South Africa) for her series The Right to Play
Documentary Projects
Winner: Hugh Kinsella Cunningham (United Kingdom) for his series The Women’s Peace Movement in Congo
Environment
Winners: Marisol Mendez (Bolivia) & Federico Kaplan (Argentina) for their series Miruku
Landscape
Winner: Kacper Kowalski (Poland) for his series Event Horizon
Portfolio
Winner: James Deavin (United Kingdom) for his submission Portfolio
Portraiture
Winner: Edgar Martins (Portugal) for his series Our War
Sport
Winner: Al Bello (United States) for his series Female Pro Baseball Player Succeeds in All Male Pro League
Still Life
Winner: Kechun Zhang (China Mainland) for his series The Sky Garden
Wildlife & Nature
Winner: Corey Arnold (United States) for his series Cities Gone Wild
The Sony World Photography Awards 2023 exhibition, featuring works from the main category winners and shortlisted photographers, opens at Somerset House, London, on Friday and runs until May 1
