Capture the beauty of the Philippines

Philippine Airlines is launching its first photo contest open to all professional, amateur and hobbyist photographers.

With this year’s theme: The Beauty of the Philippines, the event aims to widely promote the country’s ecotourism. It is the only photo contest that welcomes all amateurs, professionals, and children alike to participate in the competition – taking photography into a diverse perspective. With the Children’s Category, a first in the country, the event aims to encourage and nurture the talents of the youth. Over a milllion in total of prizes and travel benefits, and loads of freebies await the lucky winners; all from the project’s generous sponsors.The event is, by far, the biggest in the history of Philippine photography – with running events the entire year after its formal launch on June 15, 2007.

There are three divisions: Professional, enthusiast and kids. In the Professional division, cameras used for the entries has to be an SLR, DSLR or medium format cameras. Point and shooters like me can join under the Enthusiast division, though SLR and DSLR users can also join in this division. Cellphone photographers rejoice! You can join in under the Kids division.

I’ve gone through the rules and mechanics, and it seems they still need to refine it. There wasn’t any mention if the contest is only open to Filipino residents or if there’s an age limit in the Kids division (is it just for kids or any person taking pictures with a cellphone camera?).

Unclear mechanics aside, the contest prizes are really enticing:

Professional Division
1st Prize – P75,000 plus PAL Beijing Package Tour plus camera
2nd Prize – P50,000 plus PAL Bangkok Package Tour plus EPSON printer
3rd Prize – P25,000 plus PAL Hongkong Package Tour plus iPOD Nano

Enthusiast Division
1st Prize – P50,000 plus PAL Boracay Package Tour plus camera
2nd Prize – P30,000 plus PAL Cebu Package Tour plus EPSON printer
3rd Prize – P20,000 plus PAL Laoag Package Tour plus iPOD Nano

Kids Division
1st Prize – Php P20,000 plus iPOD Nano
2nd Prize – Php P15,000 plus iPOD Nano
3rd Prize – Php P10,000 plus iPOD Nano

For more info, visit the PAL Photo Contest Website.