Special Merit Award. Mallory Franklin (2019). The British slalom canoeist has competed internationally since 2009 and won nine medals in total at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with four golds, four silvers and a bronze. She has also won eleven medals at the European Championships. (Photo by Richard Pelham/World Sports Photography Awards 2021)

Matteo Pugliese was born in Milan in 1969. In 1978 his family moved to Sardinia and lived there for the next 12 years. During this time he developed a strong love for drawing and sculpture and practiced without formal education. After finishing his secondary school studies in classics in Cagliari, he returned to Milan to attend university. In 1995 he was awarded his degree in modern literature at the University of Milan with a graduation thesis on art criticism.

“Douglas Fisher has worked in the photographic industry for more than 25 years, starting out at 19 as an assistant before establishing his own studio, just two years later. Here, Douglas would go on to be among the first to champion the emerging worlds of digital photography and CGI, identifying early the transformative impact they would bring to advertising and high end photography”. – Tim Mitchell

Photo: «Carlsberg Launch». (Photo by Douglas Fisher)

Riders from Netherland and Belgium crashes in the women's track cycling madison final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Izu Velodrome in Izu, Japan, on August 6, 2021. (Photo by Matthew Childs/Reuters)

A woman falls to the beach after she was attacked by three white women segregationists, when she attempted a wade-in with several African American and white desegregationist demonstrators, June 23, 1964, St. Augustine Beach, Fla. The people in the photo are unidentified. (Photo by AP Photo/JK)

A sculpture made by activists on Lambeth bridge during the Extinction Rebellion protest in London, England on October 7, 2019. (Photo by Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

A young woman smokes a cigarette straddled across a man's lap on Ladies' Day at Epsom, England on June 2, 2017. Ladies' Day is traditionally held on the first Friday of June, a multitude of ladies and gents head to Epsom Downs Racecourse to experience a day full of high octane racing, music, glamour and fashion. (Photo by Peter Dench/Getty Images Reportage)

Winner Petra Vlhova from Slovakia celebrates on the podium of the FIS women's World Cup slalom in Zagreb, the “Snow Queen Trophy 2022”, on January 4, 2022. (Photo by Antonio Bronic/Reuters)