Kuala Lumpur, 19 August 2020 – The MTCC Photography Contest 2020 is set to be a momentous one as the prize-giving ceremony will be held as a hybrid affair on 22 August, in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting new normal in event-organising.
Themed “Experience Forest, Experience MTCS-PEFC” and conducted from 22 April to 3 July, the contest was a third-time collaboration between the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) and PCP Publications, the publisher for photography and travel magazines namely Photo Creator, Advanced Images, Fotografika, Travelmate and Travelution.
The third edition of the contest was aimed at raising public awareness on the beauty and benefits of Malaysia’s tropical forests while promoting the importance of valuing the nature and sustainable forest management through timber certification to benefit future generations.
This year’s contest categories comprised People & Forest, Forest & Forest Landscapes, Forest & Animals, Wonders & Sound of Nature (short video clips) and #fortheloveofnature, a new category for Instagrammers and Facebook users to show their bit in nature conservation.
HIGH STANDARD
The contest saw a total of 166 participants submitting 1,384 photos and 17 short videos for the five categories. The judging was done by MTCC Chief Executive Officer, Yong Teng Koon, PCP Publications General Manager and Editor-in-Chief, Jessica Chan and reputable photographer, Azul Adnan at the MTCC office on 31 July and 5 August.
Guest judge Azul said the three judges had a tough time to pick the winners as the quality of the entries received was very high. “There were a lot of good photos and we as judges spent quite a while deliberating on them. The thing that we were keen on, especially me personally, were photos of landscapes with a natural look and feel, and in natural colours.”
“We also looked for images that we haven’t seen commonly, something unusual or something that came with originality,” added Jessica. She said an impactful image gave that extra edge for the judges to take a second look and considered it for winning elements.
Thanking all participants for their contributions, Yong said the contest was organised primarily to raise public awareness and their appreciation on socio-economic and environmental benefits of Malaysia’s precious tropical forests. He said MTCC also aimed to garner support among the public and highlight the need to manage these forest resources sustainably through certification under the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS).
LIVE ON FACEBOOK
The prize-giving ceremony and virtual gallery tour will be conducted via live streaming on StreamYard platform only on the MTCC Facebook Page and the Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival (KLPF) 2020 Facebook Page from 5.30pm to 6.30pm. Winning pictures will be exhibited virtually at KLPF 2020 via https://artspaces.kunstmatrix.com/en/exhibitions.
The Grand Prize and the First Prize Photos from the contest will compete for the 2020 PEFC Photographer of the Year Award.