The POYi winners were Alexei Filippov and Andrei Stenin, winning respectively a special prize in the category "Award of Excellence" and third place in the category of "Human conflict."
The contest is held annually by the Missouri School of Journalism.
Andrei Stenin, who was fatally wounded while while covering the conflict in eastern Ukraine last August, has posthumously received an international award for his
Stenin’s photograph from Ukraine’s war-torn Donba, showing a Ukrainian soldier captured by local militia, was awarded third place in the Human Conflict category of the Picture of the Year International competition earlier in February.
Alexei Filippov’s "Will To Win" series about athletes performing at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games received the Award Of Excellence in the Sports Picture Story category.
The Sony WPA praised Valery Melnikov's images "Black Days of Ukraine". His photo series made the short list of nominees.
The winners of Sony WPA’s awards will be honored at the final ceremony, which will take place on April 23, 2015, in London. The three honorees are part of Rossiya Segodnya United Photo Information Directorate. Their work has set major trends in contemporary photography.