The photo “Lunch”, depicting a tray of monks’ lunch dishes at a pagoda in Aptapeu, Laos, earned Lao dong (Labour) newspaper photojournalist Tran Viet Van Honourable Mention at the Master Cup’s International Color Awards – Los Angeles.

The photo of Viet Van

Van was the only Vietnamese photographer to be recognised in this contest.

In previous years he won first prize twice, in the food category and the people category.

The contest was appraised by 30 world leading photography experts from Sotheby’s (Paris, France), Christie’s (New York, the US), Grey Group (Tokyo, Japan), ING Collection (the Netherlands), Contemporary Art Society and V&A Museum Eyestorm (London, the UK) and CNN Digital (New York).

Viet Van has won 60 international prizes throughout his career, including eight first prizes in France, the UK, the US and Australia.

He was the only Vietnamese national honoured at the Pollux Annual Award under the UK-based Worldwide Photography Gala Awards on four separate occasions.    

In addition to these titles, he won the "Prix de la Photographie, Paris" award in France for six consecutive years from 2010 to 2016.

VNA