Armin Appel, Open Photographer of the Year | I took this image while paragliding over Räumliches Bildungszentrum, in Biberach an der Riss. It was an early morning in May, it had rained all night, and it was perfect conditions to get good contrasts. I took five flights between 2013 – 2014 trying to get the perfect shot, with perfect contrast and shadows, until I finally got it this morning in May 2014 (Armin Appel, Germany, Winner, Open Competition, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Cosmin Bumbut, Architecture Photographer of the Year | Once Romania joined the European Union in 2007, the whole prison system went through major revamp and the biggest reform was to introduce the right to private visits. This means that a prisoner who is married or in a relationship has the right to receive, every three months, a two-hour private visit which takes place in a separate room inside the prison compound. Plus, if a prisoner gets married in detention he or she can spend 48 hours with the spouse in the special room and is allowed visits once a month in the first year of marriage. I started photographing the private rooms in 2008 and I have now photographed the private rooms inside all Romanian penitentiaries (35 penitentiaries). (Cosmin Bumbut, Romania, Winner, Architecture, Professional, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Cosmin Bumbut, Architecture Photographer of the Year | Once Romania joined the European Union in 2007, the whole prison system went through major revamp and the biggest reform was to introduce the right to private visits. This means that a prisoner who is married or in a relationship has the right to receive, every three months, a two-hour private visit which takes place in a separate room inside the prison compound. (Cosmin Bumbut, Romania, Winner, Architecture, Professional, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Aristide Economopoulos, Arts & Culture Photographer of the Year | A girl tweets during her prom. For many teenagers, social media has become integral important outlets of who they are. (Aristide Economopoulos, US, Winner, Arts & Culture, Professional, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Aristide Economopoulos, Arts & Culture Photographer of the Year | Students at Newark's Arts High School keep the dance floor busy at the Richfield Regency in Verona. (Aristide Economopoulos, US, Winner, Arts & Culture, Professional, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Sebastian Gil Miranda, Campaign Photographer of the Year | This picture was taken as part of the social project Uniendo Caminos; in the Chapel Our Lady of Lujan, in Villa La Carcova; Jose Leon Suarez, Buenos Aires, Argentina. This is one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in the country. (Sebastian Gil Miranda, France, Winner, Campaign, Professional, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Rahul Talukder, Conceptual Photographer of the Year | On April 24, 2013 the world witnessed the biggest garment factory accident till date. Rana Plaza, An eight story commercial building collapsed during morning rush hour in Savar, Bangladesh and resulted in a death toll of more than eleven hundred and over two thousand five hundred injured. While the search goes on for those buried under collapsed walls, another wall gets filled with pictures of the missing. The posters are a last cry for help, as the ghosts of the victims wouldn't even recognize themselves in these poster weathered down by the rain and the sun as they come and go - taking with them slowly any hope of more victim rising out of the rubble. We don't know these people on the posters; just like we didn't know those men and women who worked there day after day. But as they get wet with rain, and wrinkled by the sun - they stare out at you and me and whisper "I was somebody. Do not forget me." (Rahul Talukder, Bangladesh, Winner, Conceptual, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Scott Typaldos, Contemporary Issues Photographer of the Year | In Ancient Greece, drifting souls were often represented by butterfly symbols. This was a direct link to Psyche, the soul goddess, who was similarly depicted with delicate lepidoptera wings. When looking for a title for my work on the mental condition, I wanted a word that elevated the individuals I had met above the stale socially created traumas and stigmatizations, which had ruined their lives. The word “Butterflies” soon imposed itself as an image of a delicate but radiant state of being. A description of freedom constantly terrorized by the outside world and an unstable condition made splittable by a misplaced caress. This soul vulnerability constantly immersed in fear became my main obsession while photographing the men and women waiting in institutions or healing centers. (Scott Typaldos / Prospekt, Switzerland,Winner, Contemporary Issues, Sony World Photography Awards)

John Moore, Current Affairs Photographer of the Year | Omu Fahnbulleh stands over her husband Ibrahim after he fell and died in a classroom used for Ebola patients. In the summer of 2014 Monrovia, Liberia became the epicenter of the West African Ebola epidemic, the worst in history. Although previous rural outbreaks were more easily contained, once the virus began spreading in Monrovia's dense urban environment, the results were described by Medecins Sans Frontieres as "catastrophic". (John Moore / Getty Images, US, Winner, Current Affairs, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

John Moore, Current Affairs Photographer of the Year | A woman crawls towards the body of her sister as Ebola burial team members take her away. With a tradition of burial rites that include the washing of the dead bodies of loved ones, Liberians became infected at alarming rates. (John Moore / Getty Images, US, Winner, Current Affairs, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Simon Norfolk, Landscape Photographer of the Year | Mapping with a pyrograph, the melting away of the Lewis Glacier on Mt. Kenya. 1963 The flame line shows the Lewis Glacier's location in 1963. These fire lines I have drawn indicate where the front of the rapidly disappearing Lewis Glacier was at various times in the recent past; the years are given in the titles. In the distance, a harvest moon lights the poor, doomed glacier remnant; the gap between the fire and the ice represents the relentless melting. Relying on old maps and modern GPS surveys I have rendered a stratified history of the glacier's retreat. (Simon Norfolk/INSTITUTE, United Kingdom, Winner, Landscape, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Li Fan, Lifestyle Photographer of the Year | Living in the Great Liangshan Mountains in southwest Sichuan province of China, the ethnic Yi people experienced a great societal change from the slave society to the socialist society after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Back in the depth of the Great Liangshan Mountains with backward economic development, they are living a self-sufficient farming way of life and their indigenous way of life is one of the best preserved among ethnic minorities in western China. This photo series represents the life of ethnic Yi people living in the Great Liangshan Mountains in southwest China. (Li Fan / Lon Gallery, China, Winner, Lifestyle, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Li Fan, Lifestyle Photographer of the Year | This photo series represents the life of ethnic Yi people living in the Great Liangshan Mountains in southwest China. (Li Fan/ Lon Gallery, China, Winner, Lifestyle, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Ruben Salgado Escudero, Portraiture Photographer of the Year | Construction workers dig a household latrine in Pa Dan Kho Village, Kayah State. In Myanmar just 26 percent of the country’s population has access to the electrical grid, at least half of whom live in cities. In a country where almost all rural labour is still un-mechanized, candles - expensive and dangerous - are the only source of light available once the sun sets. (Ruben Salgado Escudero, Spain, Winner, Portraiture, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Ruben Salgado Escudero, Portraiture Photographer of the Year | Mg Ko, 20 years old. A Shan farmer with his cow in Lui Pan Sone Village. Kayah State. These portraits depict the lives of inhabitants of remote areas of Myanmar who, for the first time have access to electricity through the power of solar energy. Each subject was asked how having electricity has affected their life. (Ruben Salgado Escudero, Spain, Winner, Portraiture, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Riccardo Bononi, Sport Photographer of the Year | When I was working in the San Pedro prison in La Paz I met a woman living inside the jail and leaving only during the weekend for a fight. That made me curious to follow this woman in her world of the Bolivian female lucha libre. Bolivia is proud of being the Latin American country with the highest the number of actively working women. (Riccardo Bononi / IRFOSS, Italy, Winner, Sport, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Riccardo Bononi, Sport Photographer of the Year | Bolivian women no longer are the subject for the “weaker sex” prejudice, they are rather associated with the outstanding physical stamina, the inclination to struggle and the great brute strength. Then must not be surprising the fact that, in the poorest neighbourhood of La Paz (4000 mt), a bunch of female farmers from the countryside get together every Sunday in the ring for a public fight. Wearing the traditional cholitas (the term originally refers to the “indigenous mixed race” people) clothes and bowlers, Bolivian Valkyries deal with even more demanding fights once they get off the ring, raising their children all by themselves and working between the fields and the urban street markets. (Riccardo Bononi / IRFOSS, Italy, Winner, Sport, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Donald Weber, Still Life Photographer of the Year | Molotov Cocktails have been the weapon of choice for the EuroMaidan protestors in Kiev. Using fire to their advantage, the protestors were able to defend their barricades, extend their lines and fortify their positions. (Donald Weber / VII Photo Agency, Canada, Winner, Still Life, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Donald Weber, Still Life Photographer of the Year | In order to set fire to tanks, armoured vehicles, buses, and tires in opposition to local cops, Kiev’s protestors used thousand and thousands of Molotov Cocktails, inspiring and mobilizing people throughout the city to collect as many bottles as possible. (Donald Weber / VII Photo Agency, Canada, Winner, Still Life, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Bernhard Lang, Travel Photographer of the Year | The colorful umbrellas create amazing geometric patterns which contrast dramatically with the golden sand and azure-colored sea. From the air it is possible to see how almost every inch of sand is used on a busy summer's day on the Adriatic coastline. (Bernhard Lang, Germany, Winner, Travel, Professional Competition, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Bernhard Lang, Travel Photographer of the Year | Aerial photographs of the Adriatic coastline between Ravenna and Rimini, Italy. Photographed in August 2014. As thousands of sun worshipers lazed on the golden sands, sheltering underneath massive beach umbrellas, photographer Bernhard Lang took these photographs. (Bernhard Lang, Germany, Winner, Travel, Professional Competition, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Sebastian Gil Miranda, Campaign Photographer of the Year | This picture was taken as part of the social project Uniendo Caminos; in the Chapel Our Lady of Lujan, in Villa La Carcova; Jose Leon Suarez, Buenos Aires, Argentina. This is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country. This is a documentary work performed as part of the social project "Uniendo Caminos" in the Chapel "Nuestra Señora del Lujan", in Villa "La Carcova", Jose Lejan Suarez, Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Sebastian Gil Miranda, France, Winner, Campaign, Professional, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Yong Lin Tan, Youth Photographer of the Year | This is the back alley of my grandmother's house in Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia. I shot this during Chinese New Year last year when the sky is the clearest and brightest with stars. A flower plant can also be seen flourishing with limited resources and space, there is a lot of cats wandering around the back alley usually after dinner time, waiting to be fed by the good people around here. (Yong Lin Tan, Malaysia, Winner, Youth Competition, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Svetlana Blagodareva, Student Focus Photographer of the Year | People who live in the city edges spend much time on the way. In the morning mist they struggle with the remainder of sleep, in the the dawn they drowse, only by force of habit trying to read something or chat. They observe through the veil floating quarters of the city behind the window, which are quite similar only with minor dominants. Only the subtle envelope of unconsciousness makes each of them feel comfortable in between the skyscrapers, bridges and overpasses, so inhospitable in the darkness. (Svetlana Blagodareva, Russia, winner, Student Focus, 2015 Sony World Photography Awar)

Svetlana Blagodareva, Student Focus Photographer of the Year | People who live in the city edges spend much time on the way. In the morning mist they struggle with the remainder of sleep, in the the dawn they drowse, only by force of habit trying to read something or chat. (Svetlana Blagodareva, Russia, winner, Student Focus, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Scott Typaldos, Contemporary Issues Photographer of the Year | In Ancient Greece, drifting souls were often represented by butterfly symbols. This was a direct link to Psyche, the soul goddess, who was similarly depicted with delicate lepidoptera wings. When looking for a title for my work on the mental condition, I wanted a word that elevated the individuals I had met above the stale socially created traumas and stigmatizations, which had ruined their lives. The word “Butterflies” soon imposed itself as an image of a delicate but radiant state of being. (Scott Typaldos / Prospekt, Switzerland,Winner, Contemporary Issues, Sony World Photography Awards)

Simon Norfolk, Landscape Photographer of the Year | Mapping with a pyrograph, the melting away of the Lewis Glacier on Mt. Kenya.1934 The flame line shows the Lewis Glacier's location in 1934. Mount Kenya is the eroded stump of a long-dead, mega-volcano. Photographically, I hope to re-awaken its angry, magma heart. My fire is made from petroleum. My pictures contain no evidence that this glacier's retreat is due to man-made warming (glaciers can retreat when the don't get sufficient snow, or if the cloud cover thins, for example,) but it is nonetheless my belief that humans burning hydrocarbons are substantially to blame. (Simon Norfolk/INSTITUTE, United Kingdom, Winner, Landscape, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)

Giovanni Troilo, People Photographer of the Year | Philippe passes most of his time in his beautiful house in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Charleroi. Charleroi, La Ville Noire, small town close to Bruxelles, symbolizes the whole of Europe. The collapse of the industrial manufacturing, the rising unemployment, the increasing immigration, the outbreak of micro-criminality, the lack of a shared identity. (Giovanni Troilo, Italy, Winner, People, Professional Competition, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards)