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Event
Parallax X POY Asia
What is the state of our profession? How are photographers in our region dealing with AI? Who’s hiring? Who’s doing what?
Parallax X POY Asia are proud to bring to you a series of conversations.
We will kick off our year-long programmes with three chats on 15 & 23 March 2025.
Come join Wong Maye-E, Veejay Villafranca, Annicelyn, Joshua Irwandi, Muhammad Fadli, Nyimas Laula, Ian Teh, How Hwee Young, Valeria Mongelli, Vivek Prakash, Luke Duggleby, LeAnne Jazul, Wang Hui Fen, Sanjit Das, Charlene Winfred, Lynden Steele, Tay Kay Chin, Tom White & more.
Stay tuned for more details.
Competition
Pictures of the Year Asia 2024
Quick links: Introduction / Categories / Rules / Judges / Moderators / Coordinators / Awards / Sponsors / Key Dates / Who Can Participate? / How to Participate? / Archives / FAQs
We are pleased to announce the results for Pictures of the Year Asia 2024 competition, which was judged 5 — 7 April 2024.
The 10 esteemed judges awarded the Photographer of the Year, Asia to Diego Ibarra Sánchez, a Spanish photographer based in Lebanon.
In addition, the judges also recognised 13 First Places, 33 Finalists and 25 Awards of Excellence in 12 categories.
Judging videos for POY Asia 2024 can be found at facebook.com/AsiaPOY.
The winners this year come from Bangladesh, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Palestine, Portugal, Myanmar, Russia, South Korea. Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and USA.
Modelled after the prestigious Pictures of the Year International (POYi), POY Asia was created in 2020 by and for photographers from Asia. POY Asia is an official program of POYi.
Inspired by POYi’s guiding principle of “Show truth with a camera,” POY Asia is committed to seeing the world from an Asian perspective.
Special Colours for POY Asia 2024
Before each POY Asia competition, we would spend a bit of time thinking about the colour scheme for our social media posts and websites.
For POY Asia 2024, we decided that the seven ‘new’ colours should come from flags of Asia countries eligible for the competition.
With so many to choose from, we are going with colours from countries that are not as well-represented in the past three editions. These additions are accompanied by the official POY Asia red.
Together, they represent our collective desire to reach out to photographers in these countries.
We are sure you will be googling to find out where these colours are from.
Quick links: Introduction / Categories / Rules / Judges / Moderators / Coordinators / Awards / Sponsors / Key Dates / Who Can Participate? / How to Participate? / Archives / FAQs
POY Asia 2024 Winners' List
First Place
Abed Rahim Khatib
DPA
Palestine
First Place
Mohammad Abu Elsebah
DPA
Palestine
First Place
Mohammad Abu Elsebah
DPA
Palestine
Finalist
Erçin Ertürk
Anadolu Agency
Turkey
Finalist
Firdous Nazir
Independent
India
Finalist
Evrim Aydin
Anadolu Agency
Turkey
Finalist
Ahmed Zakot
DPA
Palestine
Finalist
Marwan Naamani
DPA
Lebanon
Finalist
Mohammed Talatene
DPA
Palestine
Award of Excellence
Sedat Suna
EPA
Turkey
Award of Excellence
Enes Yıldırım
Anadolu Agency
Turkey
Award of Excellence
Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
The Hindu
India
First Place
Ebrahim Alipoor
Independent
Iran
Finalist
Oded Wagenstein
Independent
Israel
Finalist
Seyyed Matin Hashemi Aghajari
Independent
Iran
Finalist
Oded Wagenstein
Independent
Israel
Award of Excellence
Supratim Bhattacharjee
Independent
India
Award of Excellence
Arun Bhaskar
Independent
India
First Place
Adnan Abidi
Reuters
India
Finalist
Dan Han
Independent
China
Finalist
Sathiyaseelan Subramanian
Indhu Tamizh Thisai
India
Finalist
Himanshu Vats
Independent
India
Award of Excellence
Lakshitha Karunarathna
Independent
Sri Lanka
Award of Excellence
Vivek Sagar
Independent
India
First Place
Rajendra Mohan Pandey
Independent
India
Finalist
KyungHoon Kim
Reuters
South Korea
Finalist
Javid Nikpour
Independent
Iran
Award of Excellence
Evgenii Filippov
Independent
Russia
Award of Excellence
S R Hossain
Independent
India
First Place
Javid Nikpour
Independent
Iran
Finalist
Sathiyaseelan Subramanian
Indhu Tamizh Thisai
India
Finalist
Seyyed Matin Hashemi Aghajari
Independent
Iran
Award of Excellence
Gonçalo Lobo Pinheiro
Independent
Portugal/Macao
Award of Excellence
KyungHoon Kim
Reuters
South Korea
First Place
Ilia Yefimovich
DPA
Israel
Finalist
Mar Naw
Independent
Myanmar
Finalist
Erçin Ertürk
Anadolu Agency
Turkey
Finalist
Ilia Yefimovich
DPA
Israel
Award of Excellence
Abhishek N. Chinnappa
Independent
India
First Place
Supratim Bhattacharjee
Independent
India
Finalist
Ilia Denbrov
Independent
Russia/Kyrgyzstan
Finalist
Zohre Sabagh Nejad
Independent
Iran
Award of Excellence
Leung Man Hei
Independent
Hong Kong
Award of Excellence
The Dreamers (searching for love in the darkest times)
Sergei Stroitelev
Independent
Russia/Germany
Photographer of the Year, Asia
Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Independent
Spain/Lebanon
Finalist
Marina Sycheva
Independent
Russia
Finalist
Darya Aslanyan
Independent
Russia
Finalist
Sergei Stroitelev
Independent
Russia/Germany
Award of Excellence
Dmitry Ermakov
Independent
Russia
Quick links: Introduction / Categories / Rules / Judges / Moderators / Coordinators / Awards / Sponsors / Key Dates / Who Can Participate? / How to Participate? / Archives / FAQs
Pictures of the Year Asia is very pleased to welcome Singapore potter and ceramic artist Kim Whye Kee as a partner.
When we approached him to create a ‘trophy’ for POY Asia, he agreed without hesitation.
Being a full-time artist is very tough and he appreciates the challenges faced by photojournalists and documentary photographers.
He has first hand experience of the struggles faced by artists in trying to create art and putting rice on the table.
“Rice bowl,” Whye Kee said, “I will create a unique rice bowl for POY Asia every year.”
We could not ask for a more potent symbol of what it means to be a working artist in Asia.
So thanks to Whye Kee, we are happy to share that starting from POY Asia 2024, the winner of the Photographer of the Year, Asia category will receive a beautiful rice bowl, edition 1/1, sealed and dated.
Quick links: POY Asia 2022 Exhibition in Seoul / The POY Family / Contact Us
POY Asia is proud to present its second exhibition in Seoul, South Korea.
Featuring 43 prints as well as a looped slide presentation of all the winning works from POY Asia 2023, the show at Mindful Art Forum(MAF) will run August 2 to September 22.
Most of you would have remembered that the inaugural POY Asia show was at the same gallery last summer.
We are grateful to HP for its generous sponsorship of the prints and mounts.
Most importantly, we could not have done this without the persistence and leadership of Dr Suejin Shin, MAF director and a judge for POY Asia 2021.
MAF is conveniently located in the arty district of Chungmuro, considered by many to be the birthplace of Korean cinema. It is not far from the Instagram-friendly Myeongdong shopping district but yet independent enough to have its own character. The proximity to several tertiary campuses gives Chungmuro a very youthful outlook. Last but certainly not least, this is also Seoul’s equivalent of a photographic district where you will find lots of film cameras. If you need a place to eat or drink after visiting our exhibition, just ask any of the staff at the gallery.
If you are not able to make it to Seoul, you can still enjoy the exhibition by downloading the guide.
Going Places, Thanks to Photojournalism
From teaching English in her native South Korea to winning College Photographer of the Year, an award that includes an internship at the esteemed National Geographic, photojournalist Yehyun Kim has come a long long way. Many will say that she has a blessed career but nobody will deny how hard she has worked to get to this stage.
Quick links: Bryan van der Beek / Yehyun Kim / Prashant Panjiar / Cheryl Wee & Byeongsik Lim / Cindy Liu / Arin Yoon / Ki-Ho Park / Miki Hasegawa
Pictures of the Year International is proud to announce the creation of Pictures of the Year Asia, a program aimed at promoting Asia-based photographers. Inspired by POYi’s guiding principle of “Show truth with a camera,” POY Asia is committed to seeing the world from an Asian perspective.
POY Asia is created by and for photographers working and living in Asia. Kay-Chin Tay of Singapore, Prashant Panjiar of India, Tanya Habjouqa of Jordan and Maye-E Wong, a Singaporean based in USA, are the Founding Advisors. POYi Director Lynden Steele is a Co-Director and will serve in a supporting role. Kay-Chin co-directed POY Asia’s daily operations from its inauguration and retired in 2024.
In 2021, the group launched its first competition modelled after POYi. Please click here to go to the contest microsite.
About Us
Mission Statement
Our mission is to increase the representation of Asian photographers and stories by celebrating and sharing excellence in documentary and artistic visual storytelling throughout Asia. Through POY Asia, we hope to strengthen the growing photo community via competitions, exhibitions, publications and educational programs.
“Show truth with a camera,” as stated by POYi founder Cliff Edom in 1944, remains our guiding principle. We believe it is critical for people to see the news and issues that are shaping Asia through the eyes of those who live here every single day.
Quick links: For Asians, By Asians / Mission Statement / Founding Advisors / Staff / Volunteers / The POY Family / Contact Us
Competition
POY Asia 2023
We are pleased to announce the results for Pictures of the Year Asia 2023 competition which was judged 7 — 9 April 2023.
The 10 esteemed judges awarded the 2023 Photographer of the Year, Asia to Sergei Stroitelev, a Russian photographer who also won First Place in Cultural Practices and Daily Life Picture Story.
In addition, the judges also recognised 9 other First Places, 22 Finalists and 30 Awards of Excellence in 12 categories.
Quick links: Introduction / Categories / Rules / Judges / Moderators / Coordinators / Awards / Sponsors / Key Dates / Who Can Participate? / How to Participate? / Archives / FAQs
Volunteers
We Are (Always) Looking For A Few Good People
