World Sports Photography Awards 2026: Judging Emerging Talent

Young sports photographers see things differently, suggests Richard Heathcote, Chief Sports Photographer at Getty Images. Richard – himself a multiple award winner – recently served as a judge for the Canon Emerging Talent Award at the World Sports Photography Awards 2026, where he was struck by the standard.

"I've been a sports photographer for 30 years," he says. "When I was starting out, I was always taught to wait, be patient, fill the frame and make it stand out. It was always about capturing a clean picture of a particular moment. Your portfolio was a collection of strong photographs of these individual moments."

Today's young photographers, however, are much more focused on the storytelling side of sports photography – as illustrated by the portfolios showcased in the Canon Emerging Talent Award.

Social media has played a role in this evolution, Richard says. "More people are shooting for social media content creation instead of what you'd call classic sports photography. That's not a bad thing. It's interesting to see how people are looking at events they're covering and how they put a set of pictures together.

"Younger photographers haven't grown up buying newspapers or magazines with these single big, amazing pictures on their front covers – they've looked at content on phones and tablets and laptops," he adds. "It has naturally brought in that storytelling element, similar to how a reportage photographer might work. It's more reflective of how sports photography is now used. If you flick through social media feeds of sports clubs or organisations, the pictures aren't necessarily individual standout pictures. Rather, they complement each other to build a theme."

Not all the submissions Richard judged followed this approach. "There was a real mix," he says. "Some portfolios did include five clear moments of individual events that weren't really connected. They were fantastic. But a high proportion of pictures had a clear connection – where one image led to the next."

The diversity on offer led to a more challenging round of judging, but there was one aspect that Richard was always looking for first, regardless of the subject: impact.

A picture "just has to grab you," he says – although this alone is not enough. "It also needs to make you want to look around it. When you're looking at storytelling, where are the connections around the frame? Is one thing leading to another? Is there something in this frame that becomes important when you look at another picture within that portfolio?"

The technical quality of the images continues to play a vital part. "With a storytelling approach, you don't necessarily need to stick to the rules," Richard says. "But I'm the type of photographer where if I see a face, it's got to be sharp. If you're doing a slow pan of a Formula 1 car, the driver's helmet must be sharp – because that's the human element in the picture. There are different styles, but for me that's just a basic box tick for photography."

Advances in mirrorless camera technology have, to an extent, levelled the playing field and certainly opened new creative opportunities.

Being more efficient gives professionals like Richard more time to assist up-and-coming photographers. "I think most people in sports photography are very approachable and helpful," he says, acknowledging that it's not always easy to give everyone feedback when you're working to tight deadlines.

"It's in our interests to find the best talent and develop it. It's an industry that's evolving massively, but people are always going to want creative sports photography. A video clip can be engaging, but a really good sports image stops you in your tracks."

For Richard, opportunities such as the Canon Emerging Talent Award offer an important platform for new voices to be recognised – and even those who didn't win can see it as part of their development. "There are plenty of awards that I've entered and been shortlisted for but walked away with nothing. It makes you want to improve, by looking at the work of other photographers, by experimenting, and by asking questions."

As this year's entries show, the next generation is already bringing fresh perspectives to sports photography – supported by tools that help them create differently.