Professional and amateur photographers can now start sending their photo entries to the 2nd National Photography Competition of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).

Using the theme “Only in the Philippines”, PAGCOR’s photo contest highlights the unique facets of the Filipino culture, the Pinoy way of life and a wide range of attractions that can only be found or experienced in the country.

Maricar Bautista, PAGCOR’s Assistant VP for Corporate Communications, said the theme intends to highlight the best assets of the country. “We are looking for inspiring photos that would show the best in Filipinos or anything that is beautiful and endearing about the Philippines,” she added.

The competition has two categories, Bautista explained. “One is the Conventional category which covers images taken using conventional and compact cameras. To make the 2014 edition of our national photography competition more exciting, we are introducing the second category which is the Mobile category that will allow contestants to submit photos taken using apps in mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. The deadline of submission of entries is on May 9, 2014,” she cited.

The prizes at stake in the competition are P75,000 for each of the 12 grand winners in the Conventional category and P30,000 for each of the 12 grand winners in the Mobile category. The non-winning grand finalists will also be bringing home P20,000 each (for Conventional category) and P5,000 each (for the Mobile category).

The winning entries in the 2nd PAGCOR National Photography Competition will be included in the 2015 calendar of the state-owned gaming firm and will also be used in its various communication and promotional collaterals.

Just like PAGCOR’s first photo contest, submission of the entries will be done online via the state-owned gaming firm’s official website (www.pagcor.ph). “We have put in place an online registration mechanism to hasten the process of submission of entries. This way, photographers coming from Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao can easily e-mail their photos,” Bautista explained.

PAGCOR decided to hold a photo contest again in response to the clamor of photographers and shutterbugs to make the agency’s nationwide photo competition an annual event.

“Nearly 6,000 professional and amateur photographers all over the country participated in our 2013 photo contest. All of the judges we invited were very much impressed with the turnout and the quality of entries that we received,” Bautista noted.

PAGCOR’s nationwide photo contest also serves as a tribute to the brilliant artistry of budding and professional Pinoy photographers. “Our first photo contest made us realize that we really have so many gifted photographers. We are also happy to learn that our photo contest opened doors of opportunities for most of them. One winner was able to put up his own studio in Cebu using the cash prize he won from the contest. Another one was hired as a photographer in a cruise ship after winning in the competition,” Bautista shared.

PAGCOR has been conducting nationwide contests since 2012 in line with the agency’s mandate to help boost the country’s tourism sector.“Our photography contest last year helped us promote the best of the undiscovered sites in the country. We are optimistic that PAGCOR will once again receive hundreds of exceptional photos for our 2nd National Photography Competition. We can’t wait to see all the beautiful entries,” Bautista said.

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