[Photo credit: Turi Calafato]
Entrants were asked to submit their best shots captured using any mobile phone.
Janos M Schmidt from Hungary and Ako Salemi from Iran won second and third places respectively.
Finalists include Craig Atkinson and Helen Whelton from the UK.
Commenting on his winning shot, Calafato told competition organisers that the image was taken in Sicily last July, as part of a project called ‘A day on the beach’.
‘It is usual to see scenes like this because people spend all day long at the beach and normal activities like playing, eating and sleeping are done outdoors,’ he explained.
Speaking at the launch of the inaugural Mobile Phone Award in January, World Photography Organisation creative director Astrid Merget Motsenigos said: ‘With today’s incredible technology at our fingertips, we have the ability to capture the everyday events that actually form part of the unique fabric of our lives.
‘Most of us document our own history every day with our mobile phones and think nothing of it.
‘This category allows us to look a little closer at those otherwise ordinary moments.’
Prizes include a Sony Xperia smartphone and tablet, plus an invitation to the Sony World Photography Awards gala ceremony in London on 23 April.
Photo credit: Ako Salemi
Photo credit: Janos M Schmidt
