Fifth Golden Moment press photo awards launched

VNA Deputy Director General Le Quoc Minh, Chairperson of the award council (standing) speaks at the launching ceremony (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The fifth edition of the “Golden Moment” press photo awards was launched by Vietnam News Agency (VNA) in Hanoi on September 6.

The event is run as part of activities to mark the 73rd founding anniversary of the State-run agency (September 15, 1945).

Speaking at the launching ceremony, VNA Deputy Director General Le Quoc Minh, Chairperson of the award council, said photography plays a crucial role in the press. 

With the development of technology, taking photos no longer requires specialised equipment as nowadays many mobile phone models are able to take high-quality photos.

The content and artistry of a photo makes the professionalism of a journalist, he said, adding that the award creates a useful playground for journalists and photographers to show their personal perspectives alongside their professional skills.

He hoped the Vietnamese press photography would go on to gain more international awards in the time ahead.

A new feature of this year’s event is a separate competition section for photos shot with mobile phones.

All photographs must have been taken from January 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018.

The organising board will receive single photos or a collection of photos from the launch day until 6pm on November 30, 2018. Regarding submissions of photograph collections, they must be a minimum of three photographers and a maximm of 12 images.

Contestants can send their entries on the website www.khoanhkhacvang.vnanet.vn or via the email khoanhkhacvang05@gmail.com. 

The photos cover wide-ranging fields from politics, diplomacy, and economy to culture, healthcare, education, sport, and environment.

The contest is designed for both professional and amateur photographers who are Vietnamese citizens.

The organising board will not receive entries which are arranged, cluttered, or technically intervened.  All parameters on the image file must be kept unchanged without adjustments. The contestants must ensure accuracy of the photo information.

The awarding ceremony is due to take place in December 2018, including one first prize, two second prizes, three third prizes, as well as some consolation prizes.

Seventy-three awards will be put on display at the event. The first “Golden Moment” press photo award was launched by VNA in 2008. The Vietnam News Agency boasts a network of 63 bureaus in all the cities and provinces nationwide and 30 overseas bureaus across five continents. 

With more than 1,000 reporters and editors among its 2,400-strong staff, the agency is now the largest producer of media products in the country. It produces more than 60 products including bulletins, photographs, television programmes, dailies, weeklies, monthlies, magazines, pictorials, books, TV programmes, e-newspapers, and information programmes on mobile platforms. 

The agency also delivers news in the largest number of languages. In addition to official Vietnamese-language news items provided to domestic and foreign media outlets, articles are published in English, Chinese, French, and Spanish, not to mention print and e-newspapers in four other languages: Lao, Korean, Japanese, and Russian. –VNA