by Liam McCabe

posted Thursday, May 1, 2014 at 3:33 PM EDT

 
Photo: Sara Naomi Lewkowicz.

The winners of the Sony World Photography awards were announced yesterday, including three winners from the US. The contest covers 14 professional categories, ranging from architecture to travel, and three categories for open submissions, students, and youth photographers.

Contemporary Issues Photographer of the Year and overall L’iris d’Or award winner is Sara Naomi Lewkowicz, a native New Yorker currently living in London. Her winning series, ‘Shane and Maggie,’ consists of a number of portraits of an intimate examination of domestic violence as a process.

 
Photo: Sara Naomi Lewkowicz, Sony World Photo Awards winner, Contemporary Issues category

Thomas Brummett was named Conceptual Photographer of the Year for "Light Projections," a series of unique silver analogue prints. Light is projected through an optical lens onto silver black and white photo paper and developed in the darkroom via Brummett’s entropic processes he has developed over the years to bring out varied aspects of the print grain by the manipulation of the silver metals in the paper, using a variety of darkroom re-development techniques, brushes, bleaches and toners.

 
Photo: Thomas Brummell, Sony World Photo Awards winner, Conceptual category

And taking home the title of Nature & Wildlife Photographer of the Year is Michael Nichols for ‘The Short Happy Life of a Serengeti Lion.’ It shows that few people realize how illegal killing, relentless habitat loss, and habitat fragmentation has this species in a crisis that must be addressed by the world, not just Africa. His goal with this project was to make the world aware of this with substantial, fact based reporting and photography. Nichols’ photography is meant to provide a new look at lions to prepare the audience to look at the issues facing them.

 
Photo: Michael Nichols, Sony World Photo Awards winner, Nature and Wildlife category

For a complete list of winners, head to the World Photography Organization's website. And if you're itching to enter your own shots into a photo competition, why not start with our Photo of the Day contest?

 
Photo: Thomas Brummell, Sony World Photo Awards winner, Conceptual category
 
Photo: Michael Nichols, Sony World Photo Awards winner, Nature and Wildlife category
 
Photo: Thomas Brummell, Sony World Photo Awards winner, Conceptual category