The World Photography Organization last week announced American student Katelyn Wang as the winner of the Youth Photographer of the Year title at the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards, the world's largest photography competition. Her photograph, taken in Lake Pehoé, Chile, was chosen as the best single shot taken by any young photographer aged 12-19.

Two further American photographers were also recognized at the Awards – Joe Raedle 2nd place, Professional Current Affairs & News category and Ami Vitale, 2nd place, Professional Natural World category.  Both have been awarded for strong bodies of work, responding to the brief set in each category.

The 2017 Sony World Photography Awards received over 227,000 entries from 183 countries.  The success of the American photographers was revealed at an awards ceremony in London attended by international industry experts alongside the winners of all the Awards’ categories.

KATELYN WANG, YOUTH PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

Katelyn Wang, aged 16, is a student from Los Angeles, California who attends school in Boston Massachusetts.  Her winning photograph “On Top of the World” was taken standing above Lake Pehoé in the Torres del Pain National Park, Chile in March 2016.

Wang was flown to London to collect her Youth Photographer of the Year title, and was presented with the latest Sony digital imaging equipment.

Chair of the Youth competition, journalist and photographer Damien Demolder, said of the photograph: “This is an absolutely breath-taking view that has been captured with equally breath-taking skill. Katelyn was lucky with the conditions, and that helps, but her composition and exposure are perfect too. She has cleverly used the water and the foreground land to lead us into the scene beyond the little bridge and house to the magnificent mountains in the background. It is a really wonderful photograph.”

JOE RAEDLE, 2ND PLACE, PROFESSIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS & NEWS

Photojournalist Joe Raedle, who is currently based in Miami, is recognised for a series capturing the devastating aftermath of the historic Louisiana flooding in August 2016.  Raedle has worked for Getty Images since 2000 and travelled the world covering turbulent events, from Haiti to the Middle East.  His most recent project documents the melting glaciers in Greenland.

The photographer says: “I hope that the distribution and publication of my pictures exposed the plight of the residents to the world. It was a massive disaster on a scale I had rarely seen in my work as a photojournalist. I hope many of the people who were kind enough to let me photograph them have been able to rebuild their lives and homes. Thank you for bringing their story onto the world stage through the pictures that I shot.”

Judge Denis Curti, Curator and Journalist (Italy) notes: “The photographer has remained true to the story – pay attention to the detail of the person in the car wing mirror, to the intimacy of the people he documents during his story telling.”

AMI VITALE, 2ND PLACE PROFESSIONAL NATURAL WORLD

National Geographic Magazine photographer Ami Vitale has travelled to more than 90 countries in her career and today focuses on wildlife and environmental stories.

The photographer is awarded for her series “Pandas Gone Wild” which gives a unique insight into the lives of giant pandas, an animal seen by few, but beloved by billions.  Shot at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong, the work shows the dedication to protecting this once endangered species.

Vitale says: “This journey turned out to be one of the most unimaginable explorations I’ve ever had.  In a region where bad environmental news is common, the giant panda might prove to be the exception and is a testament to the perseverance and efforts of Chinese scientists and conservationists."

Judge Aïda Muluneh, Founder/Director, Addis Foto Fest (Ethiopia), said of the series:  "This body of work has a lot of humor, and there is a lot of irony. You often expect nature images to be just about being in the wild but I think it important for us to have conversations about those who are in human-created nature spaces."

Sony World Photography Awards & Martin Parr – 2017 Exhibition

The winning and shortlisted work across all the Awards’ competitions; Professional, Open, Youth, Student Focus and National Awards will be exhibited at the Sony World Photography Awards & Martin Parr – 2017 Exhibition at Somerset House, London 21 April - 7 May.

The large-scale exhibition will also feature rarely seen work by Martin Parr, recipient of the awards’ Outstanding Contribution to Photography prize. After London, the exhibition will be toured worldwide.

2017 Awards: 227,000 entries from 183 countries.

Produced by the World Photography Organisation, 2017 sees the 10th anniversary of the Sony World Photography Awards and a decade-long partnership with its headline sponsor, Sony. The Awards recognize and reward the finest contemporary photography captured over the last year.

The winners of the 2017 Professional categories are:

• Architecture - Dongni (China)
• Conceptual - Sabine Cattaneo (Switerland)
• Contemporary Issues - Tasneem Alsultan (Saudi Arabia)
• Current Affairs & News - Alessio Romenzi (Italy)
• Daily Life - Sandra Hoyn (Germany)
• Landscape - Frederik Buyckx (Belgium)
• Natural World - Will Burrard-Lucas (UK)
• Portraiture - George Mayer (Russia)
• Sport - Yuan Peng (China)
• Still Life - Henry Agudelo (Colombia)

All were judged anonymously upon a body of work. Winners' galleries can be seen here

The world's best single images, awarded in the Open competition, were announced 28 March. All winning images can be seen here