HÀ NỘI — The 5th Golden Moment Press Photo Contest organised by the Vietnam News Agency is inviting Vietnamese and foreign amateur and professional photographers to send their entries.

The photos can be related to Vietnamese politics, diplomacy, economy, culture, health, education, sports, or environment, and should be taken between January 1, 2017, and November 30, 2018.

“We want to create a playground for both professional and amateur photographers,” said Nguyễn Thắng, editor in chief of Vietnam Pictorial Review and a member of the organising board.

“The photos could have been published or not. We encourage participants to send photos taken on both cameras and mobile phones.”

Participants can send their entries to www.khanhkhacvang.vnanet.vn or khoanhkhacvang05@gmail.com.

Thắng said the photos should be in a jpeg file of at least 2MB and 2,000 by 3,000 pixels with a resolution of 300 pixels/inch.

“All technical details should be in the file. We will not consider photos that have been changed or edited in any way. Participants are responsible for the copyright of the photo they send to the contest.”

In case of photo essays or group of photos, no more than three photographers can send them and not more than 12 photos can be sent, he said.

Lê Quốc Minh, deputy general director of the Vietnam News Agency and chairman of the contest, said due to financial difficulties VNA has been unable to host the 10-year-old contest every year.

“But with sponsors now, we hope to organise it every year.

“Though videos are the latest in journalism, photos still play an important role in journalism.

“With the popularity of smart phones capable of taking good photos, we have nearly 90 million amateur journalists who can capture the most precious moments in daily life.”

The contest carries a Grand Prize of VNĐ35 million (US$1,500).

The photo essay offers a first prize of a Leica C-Lux camera (worth VNĐ27.9 million) sponsored by the Leica Boutique Việt Nam besides two second, three third and several consolation prizes.

For single photos, there is a first prize of a Canon EOS 750D (worth VNĐ22.9 million) sponsored by Lê Bảo Minh Investment JSC and again two second, three third several consolation prizes.

There are also prizes for photos taken with mobile phones sponsored by Chinese mobile phone maker OPPO.

The first prize in the single photo and photo essay categories will be an OPPO P9 mobile phone.

Entries will be accepted until 6pm on November 30.

The contest is sponsored by Petrovietnam, OPPO company, Lê Bảo Minh Investment JSC and Leica Boutique Việt Nam. — VNS