A BAGUIO -based photojournalist bagged an award in the 2020 Photo Contest of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).
Photojournalist Mauricio Victa won the People’s Choice Award for his photograph showing a smiling boy and his grandfather holding sea urchins in Ilocos Sur.
The winning photograph received more than 2,300 likes on Facebook.
“The contest theme ‘Faces of ATTAIN’ is part of the launch of SEARCA’s 11th Five-Year Plan (2020-2025) focused on Accelerating Transformation Through Agricultural Innovation (ATTAIN),” said SEARCA Director Glenn B. Gregorio.
Alongside Victa to cash out at the competition was fellow Filipino Michela Ramirez, whose photo of a masked farmer tending to backyard seedlings won second place overall.
Myanmar representatives won first and third place overall, winning $1,000 and $500 respectively, while second placer Ramirez cashed in $800 and Victa a $200 prize for the People’s Choice Award.
According to Gregorio, a total of 1,522 entries were sent in from 324 various Southeast Asian (SEA) amateur and professional photographers, whose photos depicted agriculture in its various forms, especially amid the ongoing epidemic.
“The ongoing pandemic looms over the future of the world, so now is the best time to highlight people working in agriculture and rural development and to celebrate their resilience and innovativeness in these challenging times,” Dr. Gregorio said.
The competition ran from September to November of last year, with the majority of the entries coming from the Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam out of the 11 participant SEA countries.
