Yangon Photo Festival 2015 – The winning photos

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The Yangon Photo Festival honours the work of both international and Myanmar photo journalists who work to document history at a crucial time of change in their country. It is organised by Institut français de Birmanie and International Media Support (IMS). Learn more about the festival here.

The Festival’s 7th edition took place from 13-21 February 2015 under the theme “Love”. The top prize in 2015 was awarded by patron of the festival and jury member, Daw Aung Suu Kyi and the French Ambassador Thierry Mathou to Minzayar for his photo essay “Peace be with you”.

 
 

1st prize: Peace be with you

Photographer: Minzayar

Thousands of people have fled Myanmar’s conflict-stricken areas in the past couple of years. Some of them are now held hostage by traffickers who demand their relatives pay a ransom to have them released. This powerful photo essay depicts the highly emotional Skype conversations between the hostages and their relatives from an internet café in Rakhine state.

2nd prize: Fog of war

Photographer: Hkun Lat

“Haunting nightmares
Obscure futures
Lost hopes and dreams
Lost in war fogs”

This moving photo essay tells of the impact of the Kachin conflict in Myanmar’s north where fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar Army has displaced over 100,000 people over the past couple of years.

3rd prize: Give him a chance

Photographer: Pyay Kyaw Aung

This powerful photo essay tells the personal story of 11-year-old Moe Moe Tae who has lived in a waste dump her whole life. She struggles to get by and works hard to give a younger boy a better chance at getting by then she ever had.

Yangon Photo Festival, organised by Institut français de Birmanie and International Media Support (IMS) with the support of the governments of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The Festival offers budding Myanmar photographers the opportunity to participate in free training courses with the aim of giving the new generation of photographers the tools to be professional documentary photographers.