HÀ NỘI — Nguyễn Hữu Thông from Việt Nam won the grand prize in the 2017 Smithsonian Photo Contest for his photo, Breakfast at the Weekly Market, announced Smithsonian.com.

“In northern Việt Nam, people visit the weekly market to exchange goods and culture,” Thông wrote in the description. “They usually wake up very early to go to the market and have breakfast there.”

The award-winning photo was taken at a weekly market on the occasion of Lunar New Year 2017.

Thông, who hails from the northern province of Bắc Giang, will receive a cash prize of US$2,500.

Another Vietnamese photographer, Trần Tuấn Việt, won in the Travel category for his photo, Making Incense. “Decorated and dyed bundles of incense are left to dry in Quảng Phú Cầu, a commune in Hà Nội. In Buddhist countries like Việt Nam, incense is an irreplaceable part of traditional festivals and religious ceremonies,” Việt captioned his photo.

The Travel category had 10 finalists, including Vietnamese photographer Trần Thanh. Travel is one of the six categories in the contest, others being Natural World, American Experience, People, Altered Images and Mobile and Readers’ Choice.

American photographer Sara Jacoby’s image, Rare, received the highest percentage of public votes - more than 38,000 - earning her the Readers’ Choice award.

This year, the contest received 48,000 submissions from photographers in 155 countries around the world. — VNS