SWPA: Mexican indigenous photographer Citlali Fabián is Photographer of the Year

Now in their 19th year, the Sony World Photography Awards are the international benchmark for photography; an unmissable event on the global cultural calendar, which continues to discover and celebrate the photographers who shape the way we see the world. Over 430,000 images from more than 200 countries and territories were submitted to this year’s competitions. The Sony World Photography Awards 2026 exhibition is scheduled to run at Somerset House in London from 17 April to 4 May and features over 300 prints and hundreds of images on digital screens, as well as a special exhibition by Joel Meyerowitz.

Among the other winners in the Architecture and Design section, the work of Joy Saha (Bangladesh), entitled Homes of Haor, which documents in a truly admirable way the effects of climate change on the architecture of Ashtagram and Kishoreganj in Bangladesh: her work is truly remarkable!

The Documentary Project section, on the other hand, awarded the prize to what, in this writer’s view, was the most significant series, not only for the scope of the narrative – which, without any contrivances and in keeping with a well-established tradition – brought to light with unflinching clarity the hidden reality of coca farmers, particularly those in the rural district of Putumayo in southern Colombia, for whom this activity remains, if not the sole, then the only economically viable means of subsistence. Santiago Mesa, with the series Under the Shadow of Coca , focused in particular on the activities of these farmers and families whose livelihoods depend on this illicit economy shaped by poverty, as well as the activities of members of the armed group “Comandos de la frontera”, who control the territory and the coca trade. Despite attempts by some families to take up alternative crops, this illicit reality remains the only real source of livelihood for these communities, whose members are not traffickers but simple campesinos, heirs to an agricultural tradition that provides them with a marginal income for survival, whilst the armed groups are the true traffickers who reap the profits from the illegal activity. His photographs require no embellishment or commentary: they are clear images, capable of documenting a dark reality that the media overlooks and the mainstream culpably ignores.

In the Perspectives section, South Korean photographer Seungho Kim triumphed with his images taken from the perspective of a child and a dog. His A Portrait of the Most Average K-Parenting Today explores how, in a Korea with an extremely low birth rate, dogs—especially small breeds—have become the centre of many families. In this series, the photographer places children and small dogs at the same height, highlighting the surreal nature of a world that, in any case, betrays their real expectations and needs, whilst conveying in the background the loneliness of the many in a complex society where children are now a rarity.

Finally, another of the winning entries truly deserves praise: the Italians Jean-Marc Caimi & Valentina Piccinni won the Portraiture section with their series The Faithful. Their portrayal of faith, depicted through images of pilgrims in St Peter’s Square during the days of commemoration following the death of Pope Francis and whilst awaiting the new pontiff, is a remarkable example of how an act of bearing witness to one’s beliefs necessarily also takes on the typical connotations of a “staged performance” on a global media stage such as that of the churchyard of the Caput Mundi. The rosaries, clasped in joined hands and absorbed gazes, are the vehicle for a faith that is expressed through a deeply theatrical ritual.

Finally, the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award went to Joel Meyerowitz: there is nothing more to say here; his iconic photographs deserve silence, for they capture and immortalise moments of the world.

Sony World Photography Awards 2026, London, Somerset House, until 4 May