London: Six Indian photographers are among the 186 shortlisted for for the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards 2009, organizers said on Tuesday.

“Of the 186 selected photographers from 43 countries, there are six photographers from India, all of them competing in a variety of categories in one of the most prestigious photographic competitions in the world,” a spokeswoman of the Awards said.

Amit Madheshiya has been chosen in the category of photo journalism and documentary - arts and entertainment (professional).

Other Indian photographers in the fray for the prize are Faizan Khan (natural history-amateur), Kushal Gangopadhyay (music-amateur), Ronny Sen (portraiture-amateur), Somenath Mukhopadhyay (music-amateur) and Sharad Haksar (commercial-advertising-professional).

The Sony awards are truly, a global affair as 60,000 photographers from 139 countries, right from Argentina to Zimbabwe submitted their entries.

The finalists in each of the categories will be announced on 17 March and will be honoured at the Sony World Photography Awards Ceremony in Cannes on 16 April.

The 2009 winner of the Sony World Photographer of the Year will receive $25,000 and a professional Sony camera equipment. The amateur photographer award carries $5,000 cash prize as well as a Sony camera equipment.