Finalists Announced For Sony World Photography Awards

Photographer Ilya Pitalev of Russia was selected in the Current Affairs category for this shot taken during the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea founder Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang in April 2012.

Photographer Ilya Pitalev of Russia was selected in the Current Affairs category for this shot taken during the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea founder Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang in April 2012.

Photographer Alyona Korolyova of Russia was selected in the Portraiture category.

Photographer Alecsandra Dragoi of Romania was selected in the Portraiture category.

Photographer Galina Kapitonova of Russia was selected in the Environment category.

Mohammad Reza Masoumi of Iran took this photo of actors in a religious performance throwing dirt on themselves, signifying mourning.

Photographer Alecsandra Dragoi of Romania was selected in the Culture category.

Photographer Aleksey Myakishev of Russia was selected in the Lifestyle category for this shot taken in Russia's Kolodozero region.

Photographer Aleksey Myakishev of Russia was selected in the Lifestyle category for this shot taken in Russia's Kolodozero region.

Photographer Peyman Bordbar of Iran was selected in the Travel category for this shot of people playing on dunes in Iran's desert.

Photographer Hajdu Tamas of Romania was selected in the Travel category for this shot taken on the train from Bucharest to Baia Mare on a foggy morning in the autumn of 2012.

Photographer Roman Shalenkin of Russia was selected in the People category.

Photographer Reza Nezamdust of Iran was selected in the People category.

Photographer Ali Asadi of Iran was selected in the People category.

Photographer Aleksey Skripin of Russia was selected in the Architecture category.

Photographer Elmar Akhmetov of Kazakhstan was selected in the Low Light category for this shot of the Milky Way.

Photographer Maxim Dondyuk of Ukraine was selected in the Portraiture category for this shot of Natalie, 37, who was being treated for tuberculosis in a hospital in Kherson.

Photographer Maxim Dondyuk of Ukraine was selected in the Portraiture category for this shot of Michael, 63, who was being treated for tuberculosis in a hospital in Kherson.

Photographer Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr. of Russia took this shot of a woman crying as she walks in front of her flooded house in Krymsk, Russia.

Photographer Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr. of Russia was selected for this image of a soldier cleaning mud and silt from inside a church in the village of Nizhnebakanskaya near Krymsk, Russia.

Ukrainian photographer Andrew Lubimov was selected for this image taken in a children's military-patriotic camp in Crimea.

Photographer Anurag Kumar of India was selected in the Arts and Culture category for this shot of Holi, the Hindu festival of colors.

Photographer Scout Tufankjian was selected for this photo of U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, campaigning in Davenport, Iowa.

Photographer Jens Juul of Denmark was selected for this shot in the Portraiture category.

Photographer Agurtxane Concellon of Norway was selected in the Travel category for this shot of a man attempting to cross Norway by horse and sleigh.

Photographer Regis Boileau of France was short-listed in the Nature & Wildlife category for this portrait of an ape.

Photographer Ernest Goh of Singapore is a finalist in the Nature & Wildlife category for this shot of an ornamental chicken.