LookAtVietnam – Nguyen Anh Tuan’s photograph of an urbanised Ha Noi, in which high-rise apartment buildings stand aside cows grazing in green fields, took the main prize at the Ha Noi-Mot Khong Gian Song (Ha Noi-a Living Space) contest’s awards ceremony on Friday.

Pretty as a picture: Ho Trong Pho (Lake in the City) by Nguyen Xuan Chinh took second prize in the sets category.

“We look for the true portraits of Ha Noi, so we appreciate the photos show us a new view of the capital, one that is not decorated or made-up,” says Nguyen Huu Bao, a member of the jury.

‘We’ve all seen so many photos of Ha Noi that are arranged or made-up. So in this contest, we wanted to look for the natural beauty of the capital. And from this, we can find solutions to resolve its difficulties and problems,” he adds.

The prizes were divided into those for individual photos and those for sets of photos.

Tuan’s photo: Do Thi Hoa (Urbanisation) topped the contest’s individual category. The second and third prizes went to Mot Chieu Ngoai Thanh Ha Noi (An Afternoon on Ha Noi’s Outskirts) by Nguyen Huynh Mai, from Ha Noi, and Tin Thoi Su (The News) by Nguyen Dong, from Nha Trang city, respectively.

No first prize was awarded for the sets of photographs. The second and third prizes for the sets category went respectively to Ho Trong Pho (Lake in the City) by Nguyen Xuan Chinh, from Ha Noi, and Cuoc Song Ben Le Duong (Life at the Roadside) by Lai Dien Dam.

The contest aims to seek the answers to a series of questions, including: how have people been living in a city with six million people? How are the living facilities maintained and upgraded? How can people overcome difficulties so Ha Noi remains a liveable space? What needs to be done to make that living space more beautiful and better, meeting the needs of modern life?

The contest was launched by the Lac Viet Art Centre and online newspaper Viet Nam Net with support from the Globalisation Research Centre of the University of Hawaii.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News