Winner, Poland, National Awards: Tatiana, a resident in the village of Szack, Ukraine, and her horse. (© Mateusz Baj, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Winner, Peru, National Awards: A man sells balloons in a cemetery in the capital Lima, Peru. (© Milko Torres Ramirez, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Winner, Australia, National Awards: Cormorant fisherman just after dawn on the Li River near Xingping, Guangxi Province, China. (© Neville Jones, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Winner, Spain, National Award: Young Mohammed Salam - in the foreground - travels regularly on iron ore hoppers through the Mauritanian Sahara, from the open-pit hematite mine center of Zouerat, to the commercial port of Nouadhibou. The journey is precarious and exhausting, but free transportation of goods provide him and his colleagues with a way to make a living. The so called "Sahara Express" was completed in 1963, three years after Mauritania's independence as a french colony, and it is considered one of the longest trains in the world. Exceeding 2.5 km long, it runs daily almost 700 Km from the deep desert to the Atlantic coast and it takes about 17 hours. (© Rafael Gutierrez Garitano, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Winner, Netherlands, National Award: Unfortunately you don't have the winters anymore you used to have in the 17th century. In the beginning of 2013 I was lucky with a short time of winter. I had the idea to take a picture of an old Dutch landscape and was looking for a perfect location: which I found in Dwarsgracht, a small authentic village. Looking for the perfect light I'd been waiting for hours for the golden glow. I decided to find a high position, which I found in a tree for which I had to borrow a ladder from the locals to climb the tree. So I had a good view on the ice when the last skaters past by, they made the picture complete. (© Theo de Witte, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Winner, Hong Kong, National Awards: In July each year, a heart-pounding scene of wildebeest migration repeats itself in Kenya. (© Chi Hung Cheung, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Second Place, Turkey, National Awards: A muddy face from the mud bath going into the lake. (© Alpay Erdem, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Second Place, Hong Kong, National Awards: Fire Dragon festival in Macau. (© Chi Hung Cheung, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Second Place, China, National Awards: Horse fighting in Rongshui, Guangxi, China. (© Ngai-bun Wong, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Second Place, Singapore, National Awards: A young boy tries on the mask of a masked dancer who is having a breather after his physically grueling dance, at the festival at Tamshing Lhakhang in Bumthang, Bhutan. September 2013. (© Joyce Le Mesurier, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Third Place, Singapore, National Awards: Built in the 60s, Jalan Bukit Ho Swee houses some of the oldest Public Housing Blocks in Singapore. More than 80% of Singapore's entire population lives in public housing. industrial modernist cubes of monotony, punctuated by varied paraphernalia - potted plants, religious altars, chained bikes, racks of wet clothes marking and defining personal spaces; individual homes in a patterned whole, like intricate tilework. Culture is not maintained through mere inheritance, something left over from our forefathers which we struggle to keep relevant. But from the banal, the mundane, the ritual, we create culture, variation, and somehow, coherence. (© Daniel Choi, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Third Place, Nordics, National Awards: This photo I captured after an hour of patience. Suddenly the sky turned white and this image appeared on my camera screen. (© Lise Sundberg, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Third Place, Germany, National Awards: Pilgrims and devotees cross pontoon bridges at the Maha Kumbh Mela - the largest spiritual gathering on the planet, held every 12 years in India. (© Wolfgang Weinhardt, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Third Place, Argentina, National Awards: Ruins of Villa Epecuen in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. In 1985, a dam burst, causing the salty Lago Epecuen to flood the town to a depth of 10 meters. The village was never rebuilt. (© Doralisa Romero, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
Third Place, France, National Awards: Young members of the Saa tribe in Ratap Village, Vanuatu. (© Valerie Labadie, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards)
