Shortlisted entries and finalists in the annual competition’s 10 professional categories, which span portraiture, sport, landscape and the environment, were unveiled by the World Photography Organisation on Tuesday. The winners will be announced alongside the youth and student competitions, in addition to categories open to amateur photographers, on April 13.

More than 415,000 images were entered across this year’s competitions, with over 180,000 of them eligible for the professional categories. Organizers said that 2023 has seen the highest number of entries in the awards’ 16-year history.

A girls soccer team poses for photographer Ebrahim Noroozi, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Credit: Ebrahim Noroozi/Sony World Photography Awards 2023

Three finalists, as well as five to seven shortlisted photographers, were chosen in each category. The selected images were shot by photographers hailing from over 30 countries in locations ranging from an abandoned cement factory in China to a fish market in Somalia.

A panel of judges comprising curators, museum figures and photo editors based its decisions both on the entrants’ technical skill and whether they demonstrated “an original approach to storytelling,” according to a press release. Jury chair Mike Trow described this year’s winners as “exciting and challenging.”

“They covered the profound and ongoing discussions around narrative truth and agency in art,” he added, “as well as wider environmental, political and societal viewpoints.”

Scroll through the gallery above to see a selection of images from the Sony World Photography Awards professional categories.