For its 17th year, the annual photo contest launched by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) zooms in on Regenerating agri-ecosystems, lowering "global boiling". The competition is open to Filipinos and nationals of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
The theme aims to highlight technologies and practices in agriculture that help mitigate worsening effects of climate change so much so that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres alerted the public on 21 July 2023 saying, "we are past the era of global warming and we are now experiencing global boiling." Citing the hotter-than-usual July in comparison with the temperatures throughout the century, UN Secretary-General Guterres coined "global boiling" to plea for critical actions to reverse the trend.
SEARCA is in search of images that show agricultural technologies and practices that help abate climate change and promote less pressure to natural resources. The images could be farming technologies that promote recycling or re-using by-products and farm wastes and those with low carbon footprint. Also, they could be practices that save water, improve soil health, reduce postharvest losses, or the use of renewable energy, among others.
Photo submissions should ideally showcase farmers and farming families, researchers, inventors, and even students and the youth using technologies and practices in the field. The images could be part of agricultural production or experimentation across the broad spectrum of crop cultivation, livestock and animal husbandry, or fishery.
Photo submissions should be original, have not been digitally altered or enhanced, have not won in any past photo competition, or have not been published elsewhere (print or electronic).
Cash prizes await the winners: USD 1,000 for the first prize, USD 800 for the second prize, and USD 500 for the third prize. There will also be special awards such as: the SEARCA Director's Choice and the Philippine Department of Education Secretary's Choice winners will each get USD 500. Meanwhile, the winner of the People's Choice Award through Facebook voting will receive USD 400.
The contest is open to both professional and amateur photographers, who may submit an unlimited number of photo entries as long as the photo contest specifications are met.
All entries must be submitted via SEARCA Photo Contest website until 30 November 2023. For more information, please visit https://photocontest.searca.org.
