Sony has announced the finalists of its sixth annual Alpha Awards, which are open to Australian and New Zealand photographers from amateur to professional level.
Astrophotography finalist of the 2021 Sony Alpha Awards, Andrew Francombe titled, ‘Window of Rotation’. The image was shot using the Alpha 7R IV and Full Frame E-Mount FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM lens.
This year, more than 4900 images were submitted and the shortlisted finalists were selected across the 12 categories by 24 judges who are all acclaimed for their body of work. The finalists for the 2021 Sony Alpha Awards are as follows:
| Category | Short-listed |
| Astrophotography | Andrew Francombe, NZ
Dice Sales, NZ Pariwat Duangkaew, AU Tony Law, AU Akkapark Iamopas, NZ Tim Fan, AU |
| City/Street | Daniel Ng, AU
David Symonds, AU Declan McWhinney, AU Hamza Shiban, AU Jana Luo, NZ Jeanette Scales, AU Ji Deng, AU Mark Boyle, AU Peter Kurdulija, NZ Yingqiao Ma, NZ |
| Compact Camera | Aleksandr Jeldosev, AU
Ji Deng, AU Judi Thies, AU Paul Regel, AU |
| Creative | Bazil Ali, NZ
Bryan Jones, AU Grant Galbraith, AU Rachel Jordan, NZ Ross Thompson, AU Sang Le, AU Sarah Louise Kinsella, AU Stephane Thomas, AU Victoria Baldwin, NZ Wah Li, NZ |
| Editorial | Craig Jeffries, AU
Gabriella Morton, NZ Ilan Wittenberg, NZ Jerusha Mcdowell, AU Josh Burkinshaw, AU Matt Beaver, AU Nicholas Wood, AU Sandra Sanders, AU (Multiple short-listings) Tim Porteous, AU |
| Landscape | Charlotte Johnson, NZ
Grant Galbraith, AU Greg Hann, AU Jack Burden, NZ Laurie Winter, NZ |
| Nature | Chris Tate, AU
Lewis Burnett, AU Peter Ward, AU (two short-listings) Ross Gudgeon, AU Samuel Rowley, AU Thomas Proudfoot, AU |
| Portrait | Charlotte Johnson, NZ
Ernest Tong, AU Jackie Tran, AU Jerusha Mcdowell, AU Joshua Nai, AU Kian Bates, AU Matt Loxton, AU Sanghoon Park, AU Veronika Gibson, AU |
| Sport | Aaron Staples, NZ
Jay Town, AU Michael Bollen, NZ (two short-listings) Remy Brand, AU Scott Barbour, AU Tommy Williams, AU |
| Seascape | Ashlee Karas, AU
Eugene Tan, AU Jared Richards, AU Matt Fieldes, AU Nicholas Nairn, AU Ryan Formosa, AU Simon Connolly, AU Tommy Williams, AU Walter Kennard, AU |
| Wedding | Benjamin Lane, NZ
Brendan Samuels, AU James Day, AU James Hirata, NZ Ky Luu, AU Michael Kouk, NZ Yuhuan Liang, AU |
| Youth | Eric Wu, AU
Jarvis Smallman, AU |
The Grand Prize winner will be selected from among the total pool of finalists by Scott Gray, CEO of the World Photography Organisation. Sony will give away over AU$37,000 worth of Sony camera gear, with each category winner receiving AU$2,000 worth of Sony gear and the Grand Prize Winner taking away AU$10,000 worth of Sony camera gear. In addition, the photographs of the category winners will be featured in an out-of-home advertising campaign across billboards, signage and point-of-sale across Australia.
The winners of the sixth annual Sony Alpha Awards will be announced on July 22nd via Sony Scene.
