HÀ NỘI — A photo by photographer Huỳnh Nam Đông -- depicting a young father cuddling his premature newborn on his chest, giving him skin-to-skin contact -- won first prize in the Vietnamese Dads photo contest.

Photographer Trần Thiết Dũng captured a Mông man walking on a narrow mountainous road on Hà Giang karst plateau to earn second prize. 

Photographer Đào Anh Tuấn’s photo captured a father and his children in the middle of a vast wildflower field to win the public vote with 9,500 Likes on Facebook, bagging third prize.

Winners were announced yesterday at a ceremony at the Centre for Women and Development (CWD) in the capital city.

The contest was sponsored by the Swedish Embassy in Hà Nội and by the Việt Nam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The contest was inspired by Swedish Dads -- a photo series created by Swedish photographer Johan Bavman, who documents the daily lives of Swedish fathers taking advantage of Sweden’s generous paternity-leave to spend more time with their kids.

Winners and jury members: A group photo at the awards ceremony yesterday. — VNS Photo Thúy Hằng

At the awards ceremony, Swedish Ambassador Camilla Mellander said: "On March 18, we inaugurated the photo exhibition Swedish Dads on the wall of our embassy compound, showing pictures of Swedish fathers on parental leave spending time with, and taking care of, their children. The interest and attention from the Vietnamese public and from the media was quite overwhelming, and out of that sprung the idea of launching this competition, which has resulted in the exhibition we see here today."

More than 1,000 photos were submitted to the competition.

According to photographer Việt Thanh, head of the contest’s jury board, all the jury members worked hard to select the best entries.

"All of us were very satisfied with the high quality of the entries, in terms of light, colour, and composition. We had to discuss a lot to agree upon the best photos to give the prizes," he said.

Kangaroo care: The first prize photo by Huỳnh Nam Đông.

The first prize winner Đông, a mechanical engineer by profession, said he was happy when his photo won the contest.

"The photo was taken at the Đà Nẵng Hospital for Women and Children when I was there, seeking new sources for my photo shoots. When I stepped into the newborn department, I saw many young dads cuddling their babies on their chests, offering them ’kangaroo care’. The man in my photo is actually a father of triplets. That’s how my photo was produced," the Đà Nẵng native said.

The 28 best photos from the competition are on display through July at the CWD, 20 Thụy Khuê Street. — VNS