Professional winners from the Sony World Photography Awards 2025

© Zed Nelson, United Kingdom, Photographer of the Year, Professional competition, Wildlife & Nature, Sony World Photography Awards 2025

OVERALL WINNER & WINNER: Wildlife and Nature ‘The Anthropocene Illusion’ Zed Nelson (UK)

Series description: In a tiny fraction of the Earth’s history, humans have altered the planet beyond anything it has experienced in tens of millions of years. Scientists are calling it a new epoch: The Anthropocene – the age of humans. Future geologists will find evidence in the rock strata of an unprecedented human impact on our planet, from huge concentrations of plastics to the fallout from the burning of fossil fuels and vast deposits of concrete used to build our cities. We are forcing animals and plants to extinction by removing their habitats and divorcing ourselves from the land we once roamed. Yet we cannot face the true scale of our loss – somewhere within us, the desire for contact with nature remains. “While we devastate the world around us, we’ve become masters of a stage-managed, artificial ‘experience’ of nature – a reassuring spectacle, an illusion,” says Zed Nelson. Over six years and across four continents, Nelson has explored how we immerse ourselves in choreographed and simulated environments to mask our destructive impact on the natural world.

© Gui Christ, Brazil, Winner, Professional competition, Portraiture, Sony World Photography Awards 2025

WINNER: Portraiture ‘M’kumba’ Gui Christ (Brazil)

A portrait of Samara Azevedo representing Yemanjá, the Yoruba Orixá, or deity of the seas. In her original form, Yemanjá is a voluptuous black woman who symbolises nurturing but, because of racism and religious intolerance in Brazil, her image has been transformed into that of a slender white woman. However, many young Afro-Brazilians are working to fight this prejudice by restoring Yemanjá’s image. Series description: M’kumba is a project that illustrates the resilience of Afro-Brazilian communities in the face of intolerance. In 300 years, nearly five million African people were brought to Brazil but, until 1970, Afro-Brazilian religions were criminalised and they still face prejudice and violence. Although 56 per cent of Brazilians are of Afro descent, only two per cent identify as Afro-religious due to fear of persecution. Gui Christ’s intimate imagery challenges prejudice by celebrating these spiritual traditions as a vital part of Brazil’s cultural identity.