The APEC Photo Contest 2017 winners were announced at the Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting by Dr Alan Bollard, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat’s Executive Director, in Da Nang on Tuesday.

First-prize winning photo 'Sunset Life' by Kieu Anh Dung from Viet Nam

The first prize was awarded to the photo ‘Sunset Life’ by Kieu Anh Dung from Viet Nam, while ‘The Sea Flower’ by Truong Vinh and ‘Building the Flower Industry’ by Tran Dinh Thuong, both also from the host country, received second and third prizes, respectively.

The Popular Choice Award went to ‘Up and Forward’ by Yu-Han Kung from the Republic of Korea, and ‘Harvest Time’ by Oki Arisandi from Indonesia received the Influencer Award.

The APEC Photo Contest is an annual initiative of the APEC Secretariat to collect stakeholders’ views on APEC’s messages and priorities.  The contest seeks the public’s visual interpretation of APEC’s priorities for 2017, including promoting sustainable, innovative and inclusive growth, deepening regional economic integration, strengthening the competitiveness of small businesses and enhancing food security and sustainable agriculture.

The winners were evaluated by a judging panel consisting of world renowned photojournalists, industry experts and senior public officials, such as 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 Bui Thanh Son.

The APEC Photo Contest 2017 received a total of 2,126 entries from various APEC member economies including Australia, Brunei Darussalam, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

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 honour the Instagram entries, the special 'Influencer Award' was introduced, and the winner was selected by the number of likes the photo received on this channel.  The first winner of the award this year is Oky Arisandi from Indonesia whose photo received a total of nearly 3,000 likes.

(Source: NDO/ VNA)