Winners announced for the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards with series of breathtaking images

Italian artist Federico Borella has been named Photographer of the Year in this year's prestigious Sony World Photography Awards.

Borella scooped the coveted title for his series Five Degrees, which focuses on the plight of the farming community in Tamil Nadu, Southern India.

A record-breaking 326,999 entries were received from 195 countries for the 12th edition of the world's biggest photography competition, in which Nadav Kander won the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award.

Overall winners of the 2019 awards were also named, including the Open, Youth and Student competitions. If you're curious to see all of the winning and shortlisted entries for yourself, the artwork will go on display at the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at Somerset House in London until May 6.

Mike Trow, Chair of the Professional competition, commented that this year’s submissions “provoked a lot of debate and interest amongst the jury” with works “pushing the boundaries of photography and challenging the perceptions and expectations of the audience.”

One of the winning images was taken by Jasper Doest of Bob, a Caribbean flamingo from the Dutch island of Curaçao, "whose life took a dramatic turn when he flew into a hotel window, leaving him severely concussed. He was cared for by Odette Doest, a local vet who also runs a wildlife rehabilitation centre and conservation charity," according to the caption.

Meanwhile British-Chinese photographer Yan Wang Preston won the Landscape category for her series To the South of the Colourful Clouds, which documents how a small rural area in China is slowly being urbanised to create "an international leisure town".

Click through the gallery at the top of this page to see all the winning images.