Photographers from 166 countries around the world submitted almost 140,000 images to this year’s Sony World Photography Awards – the highest number of entries in the competitions 7-year history.

The honourary jury, which was chaired by New York based photography collector and curator W.M.Hunt, selected 14 category winners from the thousands of entries, four of which were awarded to outstanding British photographers.

The awards demonstrated the best of international photography from across the globe, and showcased all disciplines from photojournalism to fine art.

Amongst the winning Brits was Spencer Murphy, who was commissioned by 4Creative to create a series of portraits, depicting images of jump Jockeys post-race for ‘Channel 4 Racing – The Original Extreme Sport.’ The photographs captured the extremes that jockeys go to for their sport and led to Spencer, who lives and works in London, to be named Campaign Photographer of the Year.

Cornwall born Guy Martin received the Current Affairs Photographer of the Year for his series of photographs ‘Gezi Park’ taken during a 2013 summer protest in Istanbul, Turkey.  The protesters were resisting the construction of another shopping centre in the green land of Istanbul, when demonstrations gained media attention when police attempted to supress demonstrations by firing tear gas canisters.

Amanda Harman, from Bristol, received her Still Life Photographer of the year prize with ‘Garden Stories, Hidden Labours’, which portrayed stunning images of unintentional, or ‘accidental’ still lives. Her work captured the unsung day-to-day efforts of gardeners, from their tending of plants to the nurturing of seedlings.

Scarlett Evans, who studies at Central Saint Martins College of Arts & Design, triumphed over students from over 230 universities around the world to be awarded the Student Focus Award for her series ‘A Childhood in England’ which told the story of her childhood.