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The 12 professional winners spanned categories as diverse as fashion, architecture, current affairs and sport and were revealed alongside the Sony World Photography Awards Amateur Photographer of the Year as part of the World Photography Festival.

Chosen by the 2010 Honorary Judging Committee, comprising 12 World Photographic Academy members, the professional category winners are:

Photojournalism and Documentary
Walter Astrada (Argentina) for Current Affairs
Scott Barbour (New Zealand) for Sport
Tommaso Ausili (Italy) for Contemporary Issues
Paolo Pellegrin (Italy) for Arts and Entertainment

Commercial
Martin Brent (United Kingdom) for Advertising
David Handley (United Kingdom) for Fashion
Mohammad Golchin (Iran) for Music

Fine Art
Philipp Lohöefener (Germany)for Architecture
Tommaso Bonaventura (Italy) for Portraiture
Renhui Zhao (Singapore) for Conceptual and Constructed
Pere Pascual (Spain) for Natural History
Peter Franck (Germany) for Landscape

On behalf of the Honorary Judging Committee Aidan Sullivan commented, “It has been an honour to be part of the judging of this years awards. Being able to view the remarkable work and spend time with such eminent colleagues was a real delight.  The judging process was one of both pleasure, in seeing such a high calibre of work, and of pain in that the standard made reaching our decisions difficult and I would like to congratulate all of the winners across all of the categories.”

The prestigious L’Iris d’Or/Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year award was awarded to Tommaso Ausili.  The Italian photographer’s evocative series of photographs in the Cotemporary Issues category, entitled “The Hidden Death”, is an insightful depiction of an assembly line at an abattoir.  Ausili was awarded a $25,000 cash prize plus Sony digital SLR camera equipment and he joins previous L’Iris d’Or winners David Zimmerman and Vanessa Winship as a member of the World Photographic Academy.

Tommaso Ausili said at the ceremony: “I’m very glad to receive this award. Since I started this series on the death of animals, I have felt an enormous sense of guilt, and this prize goes some way to repay that debt. Thanks to the Sony World Photography Awards for honouring my work with this prize.”
 
Photographer Vitali Seitz was announced as the 2010 Sony World Amateur Photographer of the Year at the ceremony.  Based in Munich, but originally from Siberia, Vitali’s image entitled “Hauskonzert: Home concert” was taken at an informal concert as part of a family birthday and also won the amateur Music category.  In addition to his title Vitali picked up a $5,000 cash prize and Sony digital SLR camera equipment.

All the winning and shortlisted images of the 2010 awards are on display until 27 April as part of the World Photography Festival in Cannes.  The images will then be showcased in the Sony World Photography Awards Global Tour exhibition which will tour around the world throughout 2010 and 2011.

The final presentation of the evening went to celebrated American photojournalist Eve Arnold.  Presented the day after her 98th birthday, the Lifetime Achievement Award was collected by her grandson Michael Arnold.  Eve’s 50 year career has captured some of history’s most memorable figures from Malcolm X to Marilyn Monroe and was the first female photographer to be taken on by Magnum.  A retrospective of Eve’s work, curated by Zelda Cheatle, is currently on display in Cannes as part of the World Photography Festival.

Astrid Merget, Creative Director of the World Photography Organisation, said:  “The quality of work submitted by this year’s professional photographers was remarkable.  Narrowing down so many impressive selections to just 36 finalists was a feat worthy of a very distinguished jury like ours to undertake.  We are all thrilled with the results and honoured to have such talented photographers participate in our awards programme.”

Yoshiyuki Nogami, Vice President of Digital Imaging at Sony Europe, said: “We are once again honoured to support this unique competition which celebrates the power of photography. This year’s contest has produced an inspired showcase of phenomenal photographic talent and we congratulate all these deserving winners.”