Winners of the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards have been announced.
With both professionals and amateurs welcome, entrants to the open competition were required to submit a single image in the hope of winning a place in an international exhibition and a chance to compete in the Photographer of the Year award.
Faced with hundreds of thousands of entries, the judges have chosen a winner for each of ten categories that include architecture, culture and landscape.
Also announced were the winners of the National Awards. Chosen from the same pool of images as the open competition, the National Award recognises the best entrant from each of 62 countries.
Here The Independent has collected the winners along with some of the best photos from the shortlist.
