For the past several months, photographers around the world have been submitting works to the annual Sony World Photography Awards, a competition that attracts amateur and professional image makers from nearly every corner of the globe vying for online prestige.
As we've outlined before, photographers compete across several contests -- professional, open, and youth, entering images in categories like travel, arts and culture, nature and wildlife, architecture, people and "split second." So far, the 2015 edition has seen aerial impossibilities from Romania, perfectly framed animals in Indonesia, manmade abstracts in the Netherlands and frozen landscapes in Russia. The photos are a wild nod to the diversity of life on planet Earth, celebrating moments that often span just the time it takes to close a shutter.
As we near the end of the 2014-2015 awards season (the open and youth portions will stop accepting submissions on January 5, the professional on January 8), we have one last batch of stunning photos in the running. While we wait to hear of the winners, check out some of our favorites -- that have yet to surface on the Internet -- below.
See a larger selection of the images we've covered this season below.
