A photo contest called “Awaken Spaces” held by the British Council and the Sports & Culture Newspaper closed with an awards ceremony in Hanoi on March 27 and in HCM City on March 29.

Nguyen Quoc Bao, a student from the Saigon International College, received a certificate of merit for his idea called “Street Corner for Artists”.

The first prize of VND20 million ($1,170) went to “Long Bien Bridge – Day and Night” by Lai Thanh Tin, Le Anh Quyen and Dang Ngoc Tu, 4^th-year students from the Hanoi Architecture University.

Five second prizes of VND5 million each were presented to “Water Tank – Dreaming of a New Shirt” by Nguyen Thanh Nhan from the HCM City Art University, “Awakening Space by Music and Light” by Tran Thi Tuong from the Hanoi-based Urban Newspaper, “Special Road for Abnormal Art” by Truong Tran Tien Thao and Nguyen Ho Kim Long from HCM City, “The River of Colours” by Nguyen Tran Hieu from Hanoi, and “Electric Poles – Tree Shadows” by Truong Nam Thuan from HCM City.

Four Idea Prizes worth VND2 million each went to “Passing Roads, Missing Streets” by Tran Hau Yen The from Hanoi, “Music Road” by Dao Nguyen Thach Thao and Nguyen Tho Cuong from HCM City, “Painting of Nature” by Truong Nam Thuan, HCM City, and “Vo Di Anh” by Do Thai Thuan, HCM City.

The organisers also presented the Ashui prize to “Common and Particularity” by Duong Hong Hien, HCM City and ten certificates of merits to ten photographers with outstanding ideas.

The “Awaken Spaces” contest was launched in December 2008 and it attracted many young photographers.

The competition sought engagement from the public to identify buildings, streets and other public spaces that they would like to see improved or transformed. The public spaces identified in the competition will be the subjects of a collaborative ‘intervention’ by UK and Vietnamese artists in 2009.

“Awakened Spaces” is part of an artistic regional project entitled ‘Transforming Public Spaces’ which looks at how artistic intervention can help transform and improve cities. The project has been taking place simultaneously in China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Vietnam and Thailand since 2008.

VietNamNet/TT