World Sports Photography Awards 2020 finalists are announced to remind us the drama we have been missing
(Image credit: World Sports Photography Awards)
One of the knock-on effects of the global pandemic has been the lack of sports on our screens and at our stadia. But with professional fixtures beginning to start up again (albeit without the crowds), it is a fitting time to look back at some of the most striking images from the world of sport in 2019.
The Inaugural World Sports Photography Awards has announced its first finalists with a stunning selection of images encapsulating the emotion, power, athleticism and drama of sport. More than 20 sporting disciplines including soccer, American football, athletics, F1, tennis, ice-hockey, swimming and boxing are featured in the breath-taking series of photographs, taken by over 100 photographers from around the world in this free-to-enter contest. All the images had to be shot between 1 January and 31 December 2019.
Co-founder of the Awards Alan Whiter said, “Sport and Photography have a long and powerful relationship. The emotion, athleticism and focus that is at the heart of sport is a uniquely captured and communicated through photography. These are an amazing collection of images across sporting disciplines and with all sorts of stories behind them".
The full shortlist of images can be seen on the World Sports Photography Awards website. The winning images will be selected by a jury of sports industry professionals and announced at the end of May. The overall winner will receive an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and professional Zuiko lenses worth $15,000.
Chris George has worked on Digital Camera World since its launch in 2017. He has been writing about photography, mobile phones, video making and technology for over 30 years – and has edited numerous magazines including PhotoPlus, N-Photo, Digital Camera, Video Camera, and Professional Photography.
His first serious camera was the iconic Olympus OM10, with which he won the title of Young Photographer of the Year - long before the advent of autofocus and memory cards. Today he uses a Nikon D800, a Fujifilm X-T1, a Sony A7, and his iPhone 15 Pro Max.
He has written about technology for countless publications and websites including The Sunday Times Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Dorling Kindersley, What Cellphone, T3 and Techradar.
