David Gray won the overall award with his photo of tennis player Naomi Osaka helping out a butterfly at the 2021 Australian Open
(Image credit: David Gray)
An image captured by the photojournalist and Reuters photographer David Gray at the 2021 Australian Open of the moment has won the latest Sports Photography of the Year Award.
David's creative capture shows a moment when the Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka helped out a butterfly on court. Rather than photograph the tennis player holding the butterfly, David chose to focus on the shadow of the event. A creative sports shooter, this is characteristic of David's approach when using light and shade in dynamic ways.
There were more than 7,000 entries from professional sports photographers to choose from in this year's Award, which is now in its third year. Against so much competition, the judges felt that David's image revealed a more delicate moment, reflecting the beauty and power within sport.
“This is a breathtaking image. Sports Photography captures special moments and tells unique stories, but most of all it draws you in and reveals the unexpected," says Simon Burton, Co-Founder of the World Sports Photography Award. "It forces you to look again and reconsider."
The World Sports Photography Awards are the only global awards for sport photography and are entered by some of the world’s best sports photographers. The awards are judged by leading experts from the world of sport, media, and creative outlets, including partners MPB – an online platform for buying and selling photography gear who often offer their advice on the best Wise Buys.
Sophie Collins, Chief Marketing Officer at MPB said “As a judge, and as a sponsor of the 2022 World Sports Photography Awards I was incredibly impressed by the quality of this year's entries. Photography captures a moment in time, the emotion, the ups and downs. It tells a story that has the power to change how the viewer feels and inspires them. It was great to see some new faces in the ‘Pro’ space being shortlisted for the awards too!”
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David's image is just one of 24 other winning images across different sporting categories including American Football, Basketball, Cycling, Gymnastics and Football. We've picked out a few of our favorites below.
(Image credit: Joel Marklund)
(Image credit: Marian Chytka)
(Image credit: Dustin Satloff)
(Image credit: Steve Haag)
(Image credit: Mike Egerton)
(Image credit: Muhammad Arbaz)
Find out more about the World Sports Photography Award and check out all the winning images from this year's competition.
Lauren is a writer, reviewer, and photographer with ten years of experience in the camera industry. She's the former Managing Editor of Digital Camera World, and previously served as Editor of Digital Photographer magazine, Technique editor for PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, and Deputy Editor of our sister publication, Digital Camera Magazine. An experienced journalist and freelance photographer, Lauren also has bylines at Tech Radar, Space.com, Canon Europe, PCGamesN, T3, Stuff, and British Airways' in-flight magazine (among others). When she's not testing gear for DCW, she's probably in the kitchen testing yet another new curry recipe or walking in the Cotswolds with her Flat-coated Retriever.
