Creativity was centre stage as Sony unveiled the winners of its tenth annual Sony Alpha Awards 2025, honouring the most striking photography from across Australia and New Zealand. The competition, which has grown into one of the most anticipated events on the region’s photography calendar, attracted more than 3,000 entries across 13 categories, from astrophotography and wildlife to portraiture and creative composites. Each image was captured with Sony Alpha cameras and lenses, a reminder of the boundary, pushing artistry made possible when vision meets technology.
Celebrating a decade of Alpha excellence
Over the past ten years, the Alpha Awards have championed both professionals and enthusiasts, providing a platform that rewards technical mastery, storytelling, and bold creativity. This year’s Grand Prize was awarded to Mat Bell for his photograph Penguin Pose, a tender yet powerful capture that stood out to judge Scott Gray, CEO of the World Photography Organisation, who had the final say on the overall winner. Bell’s win not only earned him the spotlight but also $10,000 worth of Sony camera gear. Each category winner also walked away with $4,000 in Sony equipment, part of a prize pool totalling $62,000 AUD.
2025 Sony Alpha Award Winners
- Astrophotography – Ollie Hudson | Leviathan
- Bird Life – Mat Bell | Penguin Pose
- City / Street – Henry Chow | Ghost in the City
- Creative – Agatha Lambert | Deep Sea Plunder
- Editorial – David Symonds | Dhaka Brickworks \ The Dignity of Labour
- Landscape – Andrew Hutchinson | Antarctic Mirage
- Landscape (Partners & Affiliates) – Meghan Maloney | Te Mata Fog
- Open (Partners & Affiliates) – Demas Rusli | A Street in Barcelona
- Portrait – Benizi Santamaria | Woman by the Sea
- Portrait (Partners & Affiliates) – Joanne Stephan | Echoes in Motion
- Sea Life – Ross Gudgeon | Fractal Forest
- Seascape – Nicholas Nairn-Smith | MIRROR
- Sports – Susan Church | Committed to the Catch
- Wedding – Rachel Jordan | Generational Love
- Wildlife – Lewis Burnett | Blossom
- Wildlife (Partners & Affiliates) – Craig Parry | A Leopard’s Curiosity
- Youth – Jarvis Smallman | Where the Land Meets the Sea, a Wild Place to Be
Pushing boundaries, telling stories
What sets the Alpha Awards apart is their diversity of vision. From stark urban vignettes to sweeping seascapes, this year’s winning works reflect the breadth of stories that can be told through a lens. Judges considered both technical execution and creative resonance, looking for images that did more than impress—they had to move.
The Youth category, open to photographers aged 13–18, carried the theme of “Bridge” for 2025, and highlighted the next generation of storytellers like Jarvis Smallman, who turned the theme into an exploration of nature’s meeting points.
A showcase for the region’s best
Sony has long positioned the Alpha Awards as a showcase of talent within Australia and New Zealand, but this year’s milestone tenth edition underscores how deeply the competition has become part of the photographic community.
All winning and finalist images can be explored in the full gallery on Sony’s official Flickr page as well as on Sony’s website. JPEGS of the images can be downloaded here: https://we.tl/t-6ycPnNRN6y
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists of the 2025 Sony Alpha Awards. With a decade now behind it, the competition continues to prove that the most powerful photographs don’t just capture moments, they create emotion, spark dialogue, and invite us to see the world anew.
