'˜Acid attack' portrait takes world photo prize

A powerful portrait showing a woman who had acid thrown in her face has won Iranian photographer Asghar Khamseh the prestigious L'Iris d'Or Photographer of the Year award in the 2016 Sony World Photography Awards, the world's largest photography competition.

Asghar Khamseh's Fire of Hatred won the prestigious LIris dOr Photographer of the Year award. Picture: Asghar Khamseh

Chosen from the winners of the awards’ 14 professional categories, the winning work, Fire of Hatred, is a hard-hitting portrait series tackling the social issues around the violent act of acid throwing. Dominique Green, chair of the competition’s documentary jury, said: “The jury were united in their admiration of the Photographer of the Year’s work and the light it sheds on the tragic practice it exposes.”

The competition, now in its ninth year, attracted a record-breaking 230,103 submissions.

Other winners included Kei Nomiyama from Japan whose Enchanted Bamboo Forest won the Open Photographer of the Year category; Julien Mauve from France scooped the Professional Conceptual winner with Greetings from Mars and Sam Delaware from the United States whose portrait Sarah won the Youth Photographer of the Year category.

All winning and shortlisted images will be shown at the 2016 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at Somerset House, London from 22 April- 8 May 2016.