Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards announces 25 best photographers

This year’s competition saw 4,402 submissions from 477 photographers across the country, with a particularly high number of the entries coming from younger photographers aged 18 to 25. The youngest participant is only 10 years old, while the most senior photographer is 83 years old.

Entries covered a diverse range of topics, including nature, life, tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

Altogether, the competition handed out five first-place awards, five second-place awards, five third-place awards, and 10 runner-up awards. Three special awards were also given to photographers under the age of 18 to encourage Vietnamese young talents in preserving the value of the country's heritage.

The first place prize winner will receive a Canon EOS 700D and a Canon PIXMA MG6470 photo printer, the second place prize winner receives a Canon SX 600 and a PIXMA E560 photo printer, and the third place prize winner gets a Canon Ixus 145 and a Canon PIXMA iP2770 photo printer.

Each consolation winner will be awarded a Canon PIXMA E400 photo printer, while three participants with the best artworks under the age of 18 will all receive a Canon Selphy CP910 camera.

“In organising the competition, we want to highlight to local and international audiences, that it is not only our privilege, but also our responsibility, to preserve the beauty of our heritage,” said Nick Yoshida, president and CEO of Canon Marketing Vietnam.

“We have been extremely happy to see such a large number of entries in this year’s competition; but I think even more positive has been the way in which the photographic styles have evolved each year. This year we have seen some absolutely outstanding, world-class pieces of work, which point very positively to the future of photography in this country,” he added.

Tran Dinh Thuong, one of the prize winners with his artwork in the Tangible heritage topics, shared, “I think that the competition embodies a deep meaning, not just for the photography community but also for everyone, of the importance of preserving traditional values of Vietnam. This has been the third time that I joined the competition, and I hope that I would still be able to participate in the future, so that I can work together with Canon to preserve the values of Vietnam's heritage, through the power of photography.”

The Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards 2014 was launched in July this year.

The 100 best entries have been printed in large format on high-end Canon printing equipment and will be exhibited in 11 cities and provinces across Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City, Phan Thiet, Nha Trang, Can Tho, Hanoi, Danang, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh, Vung Tau, An Giang, and My Tho.

In a first for the competition, free exhibitions were held at a number of universities across the country, providing students the opportunity to see works from some of the best new photographers in Vietnam.

Le Thanh Hai, editor in chief, Vietnam Heritage Magazine said, “This year's Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards had more participants, so we are very delighted. By joining hands, we can help to spread the values of arts, humanity and heritages to everybody through photography, so that we can bring a positive meaning to raising awareness in preserving and upholding Vietnam's heritages.”

The Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards is an annual activity that calls for photographers across the country to submit their best works that depict Vietnam’s cultural, historical and natural heritage.

Sponsored by Canon and organised by the Vietnam Heritage Magazine, the competition seeks to provide opportunities for up-and-coming photographers while highlighting the importance of preserving various aspects of Vietnam’s national character.