Star Media Group was thrust into the limelight when two of its seasoned photographers won top awards in the 4th Asia Press Photo Contest.

Art Chen took the gold prize for the spot news category with a picture depicting the aftermath of floods while Ahmad Zhafaran Mohammed Nasib won in the arts and entertainment news category with a rich and colourful series of the Thaipusam celebration in Penang.

The Group’s chief operating officer (content development) June H.L. Wong, who is attending the Asia News Network (ANN) annual meeting in Beijing, accepted the awards on behalf of Chen and Ahmad Zhafaran.

Both Chen and Ahmad Zhafaran are no strangers to winning awards, having won in many other photography contests in various categories, both in and outside of the country.

An exhibition featuring all the winning entries of the contest was unveiled in Beijing yesterday.

Gold prizes for categories, including general news, portraits and spot news, were given to eight photographers from Malaysia, Bangladesh and China.

Also on display were some of the 133 works that won excellence awards held under the theme “Changing Asia”.

Hosted by ANN and organised by China Daily, the contest received entries from nearly 2,000 photographers from more than 10 countries.

The winners were selected by a panel of judges from Thailand, Bosnia-Herzegovina, India and China.

Gold prize winners received a cash award in addition to having their winning entry included in the exhibition and a photo album.

China Daily publisher and editor-in-chief Zhu Ling said that in the last decade, China and the rest of Asia had moved forward along their own development paths.

“This gives photographers more opportunities to capture important and interesting moments.

“They use the language of the lens to tell the story of Asian people, depicting a colourful and diverse continent,” said Zhu during the opening ceremony.

ANN was established in March 1999 as a network of Asia’s national daily newspapers to provide avenues for cooperation and to optimise coverage of major news events in the region.

Its members include 22 leading media outlets from 19 Asian countries.

Source:
courtesy of THE STAR

by The star Online

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