Scorched Sumatra photo wins major prize

BANGKOK – The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) recently announced the winners of this year’s FCCT Photojournalism Contest.

Amateur and professional photographers submitted hundreds of images from across the region. Judges selected winners in five categories: Spot News, Feature Photography, Sports, Photo Essay and Daily Life (for photos that best captured the world as it is lived in Southeast Asia).

In addition, the judges selected one Photo of the Year.

Photo of the Year: Indonesia haze

The judges said the photo of the year captured an area of scorched forest land near Riau, on the island of Sumatra, and was part of a photo essay by Thai freelance photographer Vinai Dithajohn that studied the impact of forest clearing in Indonesia.

Borneo and other parts of Indonesia suffer from massive forest fires every year as paper and palm oil companies clear land to make new plantations. The fires have made headlines across the world, partly because of concern over the loss of precious forest resources, but also because of the respiratory and other health problems linked to the dangerous smoke.

The winning image captured the attention of the judges because of its simplicity, its technical difficulty (it was shot from directly above), and its clear depiction of the unsustainable cost of rapid economic development.

In the words of the judges, “the key was simplicity. Although the photo was hard to get, it tells you straight away what it needs to say. There’s no point of view or artistry – it’s simply a perfect and neutral picture.

“The photographer is not anywhere in the photo and yet the result is absolutely striking – the full effect of deforestation could not be more evident.”

The winners:

Photo of the Year: Vinai Dithajohn, Thailand (Indonesian Haze)

Spot News:
First Place: Lino G. Escandor II, Philippines (Philippines riots)

Spot News – Philippines Riots

Second Place: Dan Casperz, Thailand (Thailand coup)
Third Place: Lino G. Escandor II, Philippines (Philippines floods)
Honorable Mention: Sarot Meksophawannakul, Thailand (Thailand floods)

Feature Photography:
First Place: Nguyen Viet Thanh, Vietnam (Vietnamese performance art)
Second Place: Edwin J. Wendell, Singapore (Thai Royal Barges ceremony)
Third Place: Le Anh Dung, Vietnam (Vietnamese religion)
Honorable Mention : Edwin J. Wendell (Cows grazing amid water tanks)

Daily Life :
First Place : Robert Few, Thailand (Bangkok beggars)
Second Place : Nguyen Viet Thanh, Vietnam (Vietnam tribal life)
Third Place : Nic Dunlop, Thailand (HIV patient)
Honorable Mention: Moe Min, Myanmar (Pilgrims at Burmese pagoda)

Sports Photography :
First Place : Robert Few, Thailand (Thai boxing)
Second Place : Tawatchai Kemgumnerd, Thailand (Thai festive race)
Third Place: Pawat Laopaisarntaksin, Thailand (Thai football victory)
Honorable Mention: Sarot Meksophawannakul, Thailand (Dog walking on bottles)

Photo Essay
First Place: Nguyen Viet Thanh, Vietnam (Ethnic Thai funeral in Vietnam)

Photo Essay: Ethnic Thai funeral in Vietnam

Second Place: Mikel Flamm, Thailand (Leprosy in China)
Third Place: Vinai Dithajohn, Thailand (Indonesian Haze)
Honorable Mention: Mikel Flamm, Thailand (Pakistan earthquake victims)

“We were extremely pleased with the quality of the photo submissions – especially for a contest that’s only in its first year,” said Patrick Barta, the FCCT’s associate director of publicity and one of the organisers of the event.

“We hope to build on this year’s success by attracting even more excellent entries in 2008.”

The contest would not have been possible without the generous support of FCCT’s many sponsors, who provided the prizes for this year’s winners:

Canon Marketing (Thailand) Ltd., Dusit International and Global Hotel Alliance, Star Alliance, Anantara Resorts and The Oriental Hotel.

Images of this year’s contest are available and can be obtained by contacting FCCT board member Patrick Barta at [email protected].

About the Photographers:

Dan Caspersz, Thailand, works with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UN OCHA). His work involves coordinating the humanitarian response to conflict situations and natural disasters across Asia and the Pacific.

Vinai Dithajohn, Thailand, is a freelance photographer who previously worked for the international news picture service European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) and the Bangkok Post. His photographs have appeared in Time Magazine, the International Herald Tribune, National Geographic Magazine (Netherlands), and National Geographic Magazine (Thailand). In 2002, his photo essay on sea gypsies was awarded the first prize in a contest held by National Geographic (Thailand).

Robert Few, Thailand, is regional photographer whose work has included photo essays on Bangkok street life and muay thai boxing.

Le Anh Dung, Vietnam, is a full-time photojournalist for the online newspaper, vietnamnet.vn.

Nic Dunlop, Thailand, is a Bangkok-based photographer represented by Panos Pictures in London. His work has been published in the New York Times Newsweek, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald and The South China Morning Post . Nic is also co-author, with Paul Davies, of a book on landmines in Cambodia entitled, War of the Mines. In 1999, he was co-recipient of an award from the John Hopkins University for Excellence in International Journalism for exposing the head of the Khmer Rouge secret police, Comrade Duch, a story detailed in his book, The Lost Executioner, published by Bloomsbury in 2005. Nic is currently completing a major photographic book on Burma’s dictatorship.

Lino G. Escandor II, Philippines, is a Manila-based photographer.

Mikel Flamm, Thailand, has been a Bangkok-based photographer since 1990 and has covered conflicts along the Thai-Cambodian border, AIDS issues, trafficking, natural disasters and children at risk. He has worked on assignment for Newsweek, Getty Images and a number of non-governmental organisations, including Habitat for Humanity, CARE and the United Nations.

Tawatchai Kemgumnerd, Laopaisarntaksin and Sarot Meksophawannakul are full-time staff photographers for the Bangkok Post.

Moe Min, Myanmar, entered the field of photography in 1979 and has worked in photojournalism as well as travel and commercial photography. He has exhibited work across the region, including Myanmar, Korea and Malaysia.

Nguyen Viet Thanh, Vietnam, is a full-time photojournalist for the Vietnam News Agency.

Edwin “Joe” Wendell, Singapore, is an investment consultant with Smith Barney. He travels extensively for his work, which allows him to take photographs across the region.