Four Myanmar photographers won the top prizes in a Southeast Asia-wide photography competition sponsored by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) based in the Philippines.
Winners in the photography contest were Kyaw Zaw Lay of Mandalay, first prize; Tun Aung of Yangon, second prize; Kyaw Kyaw Winn of Yangon, third prize; and Than Htike Soe of Mandalay; People's Choice Award.

The context focused on the theme "Water is Life: Too Much or Too Little, Every Drop Counts."

Kyaw Zaw Lay's winning photograph shows two fishermen casting large nets in a river in Maketilar, Mandalay.

Tun Aung's photograph is of a woman holding an earthen jar on her head, a man carrying dried grass lashed on the ends of a pole on his shoulder, and a small child, all walking barefoot on dry, cracked earth.

Kyaw Kyaw Winn romped off with the third prize with his photograph of a farmer using a basket to fish in a rice field.

Than Htike Soe's photograph of fishermen in the Ayeyarwady River bagged the People's Choice Award, which is given to the photograph that garnered the most votes among 15 finalists in a week-long Facebook poll.

The winning entries were among 954 photographs submitted by 245 photographers from seven countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

SEARCA Director Gil C. Saguiguit Jr. said the entries best captured the usefulness of water, the challenges related to water, and the opportunities and threats that water brings.

The top three winners will receive cash prizes of USD 500, 300, and 200, respectively, while the People's Choice Award recipient will get USD 100.
The winning photographs and finalists are showcased in a photo gallery on the SEARCA website http://photocontest.searca.org.