Filipino images on home farming and sustainable food systems during the COVID-19 pandemic took home the top honors in the 15th edition of the annual photo contest by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).
The Philippines’ lensmen swept most of the awards in the competition which drew 376 amateur and professional photographers from 11 countries sending in a total of 1,513 entries.
Filipinos won the first and second major prizes in the competition, as well as the special awards for SEARCA Director’s Choice, People’s Choice, and Best Youth Photographer. The rest of the awards were won by Myanmar and Vietnam.
Here are the five Filipino photographers and their SEARCA contest winning images:
- Filipino photographer Lindy Vivien Aladaba‘s work on home farming and gardening which kept many Filipinos productive while in quarantine took the 1st prize.
- The 2nd prize-winning photo depicting a Filipino family eating nutritious food and learning together while at home was taken by United Arab Emirates’ Xposure award-winner Klienne Eco.
- The special award for the SEARCA Director’s Choice was given to Arturo B. De Vera Jr. for his photo entry of a farming family. The photo shows a fresh harvest of vegetables and fruits, and a mother nursing her child.
- The People’s Choice Award winner this year is Arnel Dagdag Garcia for his entry showing a father and his eldest son collecting crops. The photo garnered over 1,000 likes on social media and also shows the father’s younger son planting fresh plants to make sure their family has enough food to survive.
- Young Filipino photographer Emely J. Escala was named the Best Youth Photographer in the mobile phone category for the photo of a girl drinking milk freshly collected from a cow.
The 2021 edition of the SEARCA Photo Contest invited participants from across Southeast Asia to submit images that embody the theme, “One Health is Wealth: Healthy Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems amidst COVID-19.” The winners were announced on January 28, 2022.
Photo submissions showcased interactions between humans, plants, animals and the environment in agricultural and sustainable food systems settings in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.
As part of commemorating its 15th-year milestone in 2021, SEARCA’s Annual Photo Contest focused on promoting One Health applications to agricultural and rural development (ARD), specifically sustainable food systems amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
SEARCA’s Filipino director Dr. Glenn Gregorio was appointed as a United Nations (UN) Food Systems Champion of the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.
Three images on the schooling or distance learning setup of Filipinos during the COVID-19 pandemic recently won major awards in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Photo Contest.
SEND CONGRATULATIONS in the comments below to Filipino photographers who took home the top honors in the 15th edition of the annual photo contest by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).
