Phl places second in APEC photo tilt

MANILA, Philippines - A Philippine entry bagged second place in a photo contest sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation (APEC) forum.

The winners of the photo contest were announced yesterday during the APEC Senior Officials’ meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

Jonathan Shun Jie Chiang of Singapore won the top prize for his entry “Electric Circuitry,” which depicts Singapore’s busy port scene.

Chiang is an undergraduate electrical engineering student.

The Philippines’ McLloyd Jumpay took second place for his photo “Iron Men,” which also won the Popular Choice Award for reflecting the APEC member economies’ shared priorities to enhance trade and investment, sustainable growth with equity and connectivity.

The photo features two construction workers preparing to lift a steel I-beam so they can connect it to the main structure of the project they are working on.

Jumpay is a civil engineer by profession. He took up photography as a hobby and plans to donate part of his prize money to his camera club’s outreach programs.

Third placer was “Catching Sunlight” by Tran Van Tuy of Vietnam.

The first prize winner won $2,000. The second and third prize winners received $1,500 and $1,000, respectively.

This year’s contest focused on the APEC’s priorities of attaining the Bogor goals of free and open trade, sustainable growth with equity and regional connectivity.

A panel of judges selected the winning photos based on relevance, interpretation and composition.

The Popular Choice Award, on the other hand, was selected by the public through the APEC Facebook Photo Contest App.

The Philippines’ “Iron Men” received 1,576 likes on Facebook.

“With some 600 photos submitted from all over the APEC region, all three images uniquely reflect our theme for this year,” said Ambassador Yuri Thamrin, chair of the APEC 2013 Senior Officials’ Meeting and one of the judges.

The panel of judges included Alan Bollard, executive director of the APEC Secretariat; award-winning professional photographers Eric Baradat, editor-in-chief of Agence France-Presse Photo; Arbain Rambey, photo editor of Indonesia’s Kompas Daily; and photographer Palani Mohan whose work has been featured in publications such as National Geographic and Time magazine.