[Photo credit: Craig Atkinson, UK]

Entrants were to urged to submit their best shots captured using any mobile phone.

Sony today described the 10,293 entries received in the contest’s month-long run as ‘staggering’.

The 20 shortlisted entrants include Craig Atkinson and Helen Whelton from the UK.

Helen Whelton_UK_Shortlist_Mobile Phone Award 2015.web.1[Photo credit: Helen Whelton, UK]

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 preset[Photo credit: Luca Laghetti, Italy]

Weronika Kazmierczak_poland_Shortlist_Mobile Phone Award 2015.web[Photo credit: Weronika Kaźmierczak, Poland]

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.

The judging panel includes Chris Hudson, group art editor of National Geographic Traveller UK. You can view the shortlisted entries and ‘thumbs up’ your favourite shots by visiting the award’s website HERE.

The closing date for voting is 17 March.

The shortlisted photographers, as named by Sony, are:

• Craig Atkinson, UK
• Salvatore Calafato, Italy
• Monica Coteriano, Portugal
• Emanuel Faria, Portugal
• Henny Gylfa, Iceland
• Weronika Kaźmierczak, Poland
• Olga Nazarova, Russia
• Luca Laghetti, Italy
• Hamed Nazari, Iran (shortlisted for two images)
• Nuno Perestrelo, Portugal
• Atle Rønningen, Norway
• Ako Salemi, Iran
• Janos Schmidt, Hungary (shortlisted for two images)
• Gerard Trang, France
• Mijail Vallejo, Ecuador (shortlisted for two images)
• Carla Vermeend, Netherlands
• Helen Whelton, UK