Absolute Winner of the Black and Withe Photo Awards 2024 – Destroy together, by Haikun Liang
In its third edition, the Black and White Photo Awards reaffirms itself as one of the most important black and white photography contests in recent years. Held between January 1 and June 15, this latest edition has reached new heights of participation and support with nearly 5000 photographs submitted from the most diverse places on the planet. Since its inception in 2022, more than 3,000 photographers have joined this event that celebrates the mastery of black and white photography.
As in previous editions, the contest has taken advantage of August 19, World Photography Day, to announce its winners. This year, the prizes have been significantly increased thanks to the support of new sponsors. In this edition, the Special Prize for Creativity, sponsored by SanDisk Professional, was one of the most outstanding prizes, awarding the winner a SanDisk Professional PRO-G40 SSD (2TB), the fastest in its class. In addition, the winners of the Street and Portrait categories will receive access to the cutting-edge AI-based photo editing suite from Retouch4me, along with their cash prize.
Haikun Liang, The Absolute Winner
The title of Absolute Winner of the Black and White Photo Awards 2024 went to Haikun Liang with his striking photograph Destroy together, which captures a vibrant moment during China’s spring festival. The image shows a young man in a mask and hood holding exploding firecrackers, encapsulating the cultural tradition of “frying lions” to ward off evil spirits and pray for peace and prosperity. A magnificent photograph that, without a doubt, deserves the €1000 that, thanks to SanDisk, the winner of this contest receives.
László Tóth, Special Award for Creativity by SanDisk
The Special Award for Creativity by SanDisk Professional was awarded to László Tóth for his innovative work Spiral to the tower. This unique image combines multiple overlapping frames of a flock of birds, forming a spiral that stands out for both its conceptual creativity and technical execution.
The list of winners of the Black and White Photo Awards 2024
The winners of the different categories were Florian Kriechbaumer in Architecture with “Architectural Playground”, Zhenhuan Zhou‘s “Baker Street Station 3” in Street, Van Dong Nguyen in Portrait with “Pottery village girl”, Anup Shah in Fauna and Flora with “Explosion”, and Matteo Strassera in Landscape with “The Dune”. Enjoy all of these photographs, as well as the finalist images, in the contest winners gallery:
To the already traditional and prestigious panel of judges formed by Joel Tjintelaar, Julia Anna Gospodarou, Charles Paul Azzopardi or Kazutoshi Kawakami, this year has joined the Spanish photographer Néstor Rodan. His incorporation reinforces the contest’s mission to consolidate itself as a reference in its category, valuing black and white photography as the timeless art that it is.
The third edition of the Black and White Photo Awards has served to place them definitively in a prominent place among photography awards, and they are already working to bring a Black and White Photo Awards 2025 at the height expected of a contest like this. This next edition will open its doors on January 1 and, based on the success of previous years, is sure to be full of surprises and maintain the contest’s commitment to celebrating the timeless power of black and white photography.
This year, the Black and White Photo Awards has not only increased the value of its prizes (reaching over €5,500), but has surpassed any possible expectations, with a new record participation that, for yet another year, has astonished its organizers. The history of black and white photography continues to be written, and the Black and White Photo Awards 2025 are set to raise the bar even higher.
More information about the various finalists, awards, jury, etc. at: bwphotoawards.com