Grains of gold

UN Chronicle, Sept-Nov, 2004

Two Asian photographers have won the International Year of Rice (IYR) Global Photography Contest launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Vu Nguyen, a professional photographer from Viet Nam, and Jin Tingzheng, an amateur from China, were selected from approximately 500 entries.

Almost 3,000 million people share the culture, traditions and untapped potentials of rice. In remote villages of southeast Asia, farmers still compare a grain of rice to a "grain of gold", while in modern Japan, people see rice as the very heart of their culture. Along the Senegal River in West Africa, villagers greet guests with specially prepared rice dishes.

Wherever it is grown, rice enters people's lives as a daily food, at religious festivals and wedding parties, and in paintings and songs. Even in nations "new to rice", its cultivation has changed landscapes and cuisine and provided farmers with new sources of income. Rice is a food, but more than a food, it is society, culture, politics, business, the beauty of the landscape, people in their communities. In short, rice is life.

As 2004 is the International Year of Rice (see UN Chronicle, Issue 4, 2003, page 67), professional and amateur photographers were invited to capture the IYR theme, "Rice is Life", in photographs illustrating the rich diversity of regions, people and resources linked to this vital food source. Both colour and black-and-white pictures could be submitted. The IYR theme highlights the vital importance of rice to world agriculture, food security, livelihood and culture.

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The Selection Committee of eight panellists included a Chairman, five professionals working in the field of photography and two senior members of the Informal International Year of Rice Working Group. The best works sent to the IYR Global Photography Contest will be displayed in late fall 2004 in Rome in an exhibit supported by Durst Phototechnik AG. The exclusive distributor of Nikon products in Italy, Nital S.p.A., contributed to the initiative by sponsoring the contest and providing winners with its products.