Filipino photogs top Apec contest

MANILA, Philippines—Two Filipino lensmen have topped the 2011 photo contest  sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Department of Foreign Affairs  announced Thursday.

The DFA said  Reynaldo C. Mondez and Romeo B. Doneza  placed first and second in the competition with their entries titled “Solar Energy Panels” and “World Wide,” respectively.

Third prize went to Wong Chi-keung of Hong Kong for his entry “No Boundary Network.”

The DFA said in a press statement that Mondez and Doneza’s photos “stood out among the 204 submitted by 95 photographers from 17 Apec member-countries to best reflect Apec’s priorities of strengthening regional economic integration, advancing regulatory cooperation and promoting green growth.”

For receiving over 4,600 online votes, Mondez also bagged the Apec photo contest’s “Popular Choice Award.”

Mondez is a retired photographer of the National Housing Authority. He currently runs a small wedding photography business with his son in Metro Manila.

Two other Filipino photographers—Ellen de Leon and Robert Anton Pimentel— made it to the top 10  finalists with their entries “Winds of Change” and “Economic Harmony,” respectively.

Their pictures “stood out, based on the criteria for judging, which included the quality of the photograph, composition, overall impact, and artistic merit, as well as how it represents the three Apec themes.”

The contest judges were Eric Baradat, Agence France-Presse photo editor-in-chief-worldwide; Mladen Antonov, AFP photo editor-in-chief-North America; Getty Images photographer Palani Mohan; Apec Secretariat executive director Mohamad Noor; and US-Apec senior official Kurt Tong.

In a news release, the Apec secretariat quoted Mondez as saying he was “very happy and truly humbled by this experience.”

He had called his winning photo of children playing basketball next to a hut and a solar energy panel a “symbol of hope for a sustainable future, even in the most remote parts of the Philippines.”

Monde’s photo was taken in a “rural village in Rizal province.”

“What I am trying to convey to the world is to make renewable energy more accessible to everyone by first lowering the cost of technology. Through my photo, I hope to reach out to the decision-makers who are involved in renewable energy,” he added.