Vietnamese photographers snap up top three places at APEC contest

Vietnam has scored a one, two, three at a photo contest held on the sidelines of the ongoing Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Da Nang.

Tinh Than took the first prize with “Sunset Life”, while “The Sea Flower” by Huong Vinh and “Building the Flower Industry” by Tran Dinh Thuong claimed second and third prizes.

The winners were announced on Tuesday at the Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting.

“Up and Forward” by Yu-Han Kung from Taiwan won the Popular Choice Award, and “Harvest Time” by Indonesian photographer Oki Arisandi won the “Influencer Award”, according to an APEC news release.

The APEC Photo Contest is an annual initiative organized by the APEC Secretariat. In its seventh year, the APEC Photo Contest 2017 received 2,126 entries from various APEC members including Australia, Brunei Darussalam, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Each photo was evaluated based on three criteria: interpretation and message of the photo based on APEC 2017's priorities, composition and quality, and creativity.

The winners were evaluated by a panel consisting of world renowned photojournalists, industry experts and senior public officials, including APEC Executive Director Alan Bollard, Agence France-Presse Photo Editor for North America Eric Baradat, award-winning photographer Palani Mohan, APEC Photo Contest multi-year winner and photographer Truong Huu Hung, and Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister and Chair of APEC 2017 Senior Officials Meeting Bui Thanh Son.

In order to reach a wider audience, this year for the first time the contest welcomed entries from Instagram through the APEC Secretariat’s official account.

To honor the Instagram entries, a special “Influencer Award” was introduced and the winner was selected by the number of likes the photo received. The first winner of the award was Oky Arisandi from Indonesia whose photo received nearly 3,000 likes.

Below are the ten photos that made it to the final round of this year’s APEC Photo Contest and the “Influencer Award” winner.

First Prize: Sunset Life by Tinh Than, Vietnam.

Second Prize: The Sea Flower by Huong Vinh, Vietnam

Third Prize: Building the Flower Industry by Dinh Thuong Tran, Vietnam

Popular Choice Award: Up and Forward by Yu-Han Kung, Taiwan

The Heartbeat of Life, Cleaning Lake Titicaca by David Martin Huamani Bedoy, Peru

Fisherman O’clock by Ricky Elwarin, Indonesia

Hello to Global Market by Danilo Victoriano, the Philippines

Colors of Thailand’s Night Market by Boon Ping Chua, Singapore

Jakarta’s New Port, A New Hope by Fadil Azi, Indonesia.