Welcome to Pictures of the Year Asia
Competitions
Pictures of the Year Asia 2023
Quick links: Introduction / Categories / Rules / Judges / Moderators / Coordinators / Awards / Sponsors / Key Dates / Who Can Participate? / How to Participate? / Archives / FAQs
Pictures of the Year Asia (POY Asia) is pleased to announce that POY Asia 2023, the third edition of our annual competition, will accept submissions Jan 16 — Feb 20, 2023.
Modelled after the prestigious Pictures of the Year International (POYi), POY Asia was created in 2020 by and for photographers from Asia. POY Asia is an official program of POYi.
Inspired by POYi’s guiding principle of “Show truth with a camera,” POY Asia is committed to seeing the world from an Asian perspective.
Our first competition in 2021 started with nine categories with Photographer of the Year, Asia being the premier prize.
In 2022, a new category — Recreational & Traditional Sports — was added.
As the world returns more and more to pre-pandemic ‘normalcy’, we decided not to have any COVID-19 categories in POY Asia 2023.
In response to feedback from photographers in the region, we added five new categories in our third edition. They are Sports Action, General News, Daily Life, Daily Life Picture Story and Portrait Series. In addition, we have created a special non-competition category War in Ukraine.
To serve the community even better, we have also tweaked some of the rules in this year’s competition.
The premier category in this competition is still the Photographer of the Year, Asia award.
As per our last two competitions, we have a panel of 10 esteemed judges from the region, and we will introduce them one by one over the next few weeks.
Judging for POY Asia 2023 will be held online 7 — 9 April, 2023.
Quick links: Introduction / Categories / Rules / Judges / Moderators / Coordinators / Awards / Sponsors / Key Dates / Who Can Participate? / How to Participate? / Archives / FAQs
Exhibitions
POY Asia inaugural exhibition in Seoul has ended
POY Asia’s first-ever POY Asia exhibition at the Mindful Art Forum(MAF), a private gallery in Seoul, South Korea, has just ended. Featuring 50 award-winning images from the POY Asia 2022 competition, the show ran from July 13 to September 3, 2022.
As part of the opening, a forum titled “The truth revealed by photojournalism and documentary photography in our era” was held at the gallery on July 12, 2022.
Quick links: Introduction Note / Opening Forum / The POY Family / Contact Us
Competitions
Pictures of the Year Asia 2022 Results
Quick links: Introduction / Categories / Rules / Judges / Moderators / Coordinators / Awards / Sponsors / Key Dates / Who Can Participate? / How to Participate? / Archives / FAQs
We are pleased to announce the results of Pictures of the Year Asia 2022 competition which was judged 8 — 10 April 2022.
Modelled after the prestigious Pictures of the Year International (POYi), POY Asia was created in 2020 by and for photographers from Asia. POY Asia is an official program of POYi.
Inspired by POYi’s guiding principle of “Show truth with a camera,” POY Asia is committed to seeing the world from an Asian perspective.
The 10 judges awarded the 2022 Photographer of the Year, Asia to Roman Pilipey, a China-based Ukrainian photojournalist with EPA.
In addition, the judges also recognised 29 Finalists, 31 Awards of Excellence in 10 categories.
The winners this year came from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Hong Kong, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Palestine, Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, USA.
11 winners won in more than one category, and 11 of the overall winners are won by women/non-binary photographers.
40 awards are won by independent photographers.
Quick links: Introduction / Categories / Rules / Judges / Moderators / Coordinators / Awards / Sponsors / Key Dates / Who Can Participate? / How to Participate? / Archives / FAQs
Pictures of the Year International is proud to announce the creation of Pictures of the Year Asia, a program aimed at promoting Asia-based photographers. Inspired by POYi’s guiding principle of “Show truth with a camera,” POY Asia is committed to seeing the world from an Asian perspective.
POY Asia is created by and for photographers working and living in Asia. Kay-Chin Tay of Singapore is serving as a Co-Director. Prashant Panjiar of India, Tanya Habjouqa of Jordan and Maye-E Wong, a Singaporean based in USA, are the Founding Advisors. POYi Director Lynden Steele is a Co-Director and will serve in a supporting role.
In 2021, the group launched its first competition modelled after POYi. Please click here to go to the contest microsite.
About Us
Mission Statement
Our mission is to increase the representation of Asian photographers and stories by celebrating and sharing excellence in documentary and artistic visual storytelling throughout Asia. Through POY Asia, we hope to strengthen the growing photo community via competitions, exhibitions, publications and educational programs.
“Show truth with a camera,” as stated by POYi founder Cliff Edom in 1944, remains our guiding principle. We believe it is critical for people to see the news and issues that are shaping Asia through the eyes of those who live here every single day.
Quick links: For Asians, By Asians / Mission Statement / Founding Advisors / Staff / The POY Family / Contact Us
On The Record
In Conversation with Lynden Steele, Kay-Chin Tay & Suejin Shin
In an article for leading Korean photography magazine facilitated by MAF Director and POY Asia 2021 judge Suejin Shin, POY Co-Directors Lynden Steele and Kay-Chin Tay talk about the POY Asia 2022 exhibition in Seoul. While the article appears only in Korean, we are happy to provide the English transcript here.
Quick links: Bryan van der Beek / Yehyun Kim / Prashant Panjiar / Cheryl Wee & Byeongsik Lim / Cindy Liu / Arin Yoon / Ki-Ho Park
Events
POY Asia Presents 2021
When we created POY Asia, we made a pledge that we will not just be about a competition; and that education and robust exchange are necessary for our profession to grow. It is a well-proven fact that there are more visual storytelling talents in Asia than publicly acknowledged. We at POY Asia believe we have both responsibility and opportunity to help bring more stories and talents to the spotlight. We hope that in years to come, POY Asia Presents will become a gathering to look forward to.
Quick links: Introduction / Presenters / Schedule / Sponsors / Resources / Archives
The Covid Experience
Dispatches from Asia
As a precursor to our first POY Asia competition in February 2021, we invited photographers all over Asia to share one image that summarises his or her own Covid Experience.