Amateur and professional photographers submitted more than 5,000 images from across the region. Judges selected winners in four categories: Spot News, Feature Photography, Migrants and Refugees (a category sponsored by the International Organization for Migration for photos concerning the plight of migrants and refugees) and Photo Essay. In addition, the judges selected a Photographer of the Year, the contest's top prize.

Many photographers submitted stunning individual shots or photo essays. But Androniki Christodoulou, a photojournalist based in Tokyo, towered above the competition because of the consistency and range of her work.

She submitted three photo essays, and each alone was considered strong enough to win a prize. Each essay brought viewers into a completely different world, showing the bleak environs of the slums of Osaka, the colorful back rooms of the "Otaku" subculture, and the rich traditions of Yabusame, the Japanese ritual of equestrian archery. All of the photographs required dogged reporting and a knack for building confidence with the subjects to gain access to a world not often seen by the mainstream population. The photos also demonstated great technical skill in capturing imaging in an array of difficult and diverse environments, enlightening her audience.

he Photos of the Year were among the many brilliant images from this year's contest, and the FCCT hopes to sustain that momentum with another contest next year. "We were once again impressed with the submissions in only our second year as a photo contest," said Patrick Barta, the FCCT's second vice-president and one of the organizers of the event. "We hope to build on this year's success by attracting even more excellent entries in 2009."

The contest would not have been possible without the generous support of FCCT's many sponsors, who provided the prizes for this year's winners (details after the photographs).

This year's winners are:

Photographer of the Year: Androniki Christodoulou

Spot News
First Place: Lino "Linus" Guardian Escandor (Tropical Storm Ketsana mudslide)
Second Place: Kittinun Rodsupan (solar eclipse in Thailand)
Third Place: Dannyboy Pata (protest in Manila)
Honorable Mention: Thiti Wannamontha (fire at Santika nightclub in Bangkok)
Honorable Mention: John Javellana (Tropical Storm Ketsana floods)

Feature Photography
First Place: Graham Crouch
Second Place: Sudipto Das (Bengal tiger released into the wild in India)
Third Place: Ritesh Uttamchandani (amputee bodybuilder in India)
Honorable Mention: Nicolas Asfouri (transvestite beauty contest in Pattaya)
Honorable Mention: Sandipan Majumdar (village boys and geese in India)

Refugees and Migrants:
First Place: Andrew Biraj (religious migration/train travel in Bangladesh)
Second Place: Orit Drori (stateless Rohingyas in Burma's Arakan state)
Third Place: James Mackay (Burmese political prisoners)

Photo Essay
First Place: Brent Lewin (urban elephants in Bangkok)
Second Place: Afriadi Hikmal (disabled children in Indonesia)
Third Place: Susetta Bozzi (India's rising middle class)
Honorable Mention: Richard Humphries (southern Thailand violence)
Honorable Mention: Gerhard Jörén (living with the dead in a Manila cemetery)

Many photographers submitted stunning individual shots or photo essays. But Androniki Christodoulou, a photojournalist based in Tokyo, towered above the competition because of the consistency and range of her work.

She submitted three photo essays, and each alone was considered strong enough to win a prize. Each essay brought viewers into a completely different world, showing the bleak environs of the slums of Osaka, the colorful back rooms of the "Otaku" subculture, and the rich traditions of Yabusame, the Japanese ritual of equestrian archery. All of the photographs required dogged reporting and a knack for building confidence with the subjects to gain access to a world not often seen by the mainstream population. The photos also demonstated great technical skill in capturing imaging in an array of difficult and diverse environments, enlightening her audience.

The Photos of the Year were among the many brilliant images from this year's contest, and the FCCT hopes to sustain that momentum with another contest next year. "We were once again impressed with the submissions in only our second year as a photo contest," said Patrick Barta, the FCCT's second vice-president and one of the organizers of the event. "We hope to build on this year's success by attracting even more excellent entries in 2009."

The contest would not have been possible without the generous support of FCCT's many sponsors, who provided the prizes for this year's winners:
OnAsia, which provided administrative and logistical support for the contest through its extensive network of photographers across Asia.

Star Alliance, which provided round-trip plane tickets in Asia. Star Alliance's many members include Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines and other airlines that serve the region.

Bloom Digital Photo Lab, which provided high-quality prints of the winning images for exhibition at the FCCT clubhouse.

International Organization for Migration (IOM), which provided financial support for cash prizes to contest winners.

Total Quality Public Relations (TQPR), which provided additional financial support for cash prizes to contest winners.

Anantara Resorts, which provided a voucher for a 2 night stay in a luxurious Anantara Pool Villa at the Anantara Phuket Resort & Spa on Mai Kao beach in Thailand. Anantara's other properties include resorts in Hua Hin, Koh Samui and northern Thailand.

The Oriental Hotel, which provided complimentary dining at several of its famous restaurants, including the Riverside Terrace and Sala Rim Naam.

The Peninsula Hotel, which provided vouchers for international buffet dining at the hotel's River Cafe & Terrace.

This year's awards are also made possible by the acclaimed regional photographers who served as judges for the contest:

Roland Neveu - a French photographer who is perhaps best known for his photographs of the Khmer Rouge when they took over Cambodia in April 1975. He went on to cover stories in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Africa.

Olivier Nilsson - a well-known Bangkok-based photo editor with 18 years of experience at the Associated Press. He graduated from the Ecole Superieure de Journalisme in 1986.

Patrick de Noirmont - a veteran photographer based in Bangkok and Paris with more than 30 years experience with various wire services including AFP, Associated Press and Reuters.

The FCCT will continue to hang the winning photos at its clubhouse during a two-month-long exhibition through January. The exhibition will be open to the public and anyone interested in photography is encouraged to attend:

FCCT Photo Contest Winners Exhibition
Dates: Dec. 4 - Jan. 30
Location: FCCT Clubhouse, Penthouse floor, Maneeya Center Building, 518/5 Ploenchit Road, Bangkok 10330 (connected to the BTS Skytrain Chitlom station)
Hours of operation: Open Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Closed Saturday, Sunday, and holidays
Tel: 02-652-0580-1
E-mail: info@fccthai.com
Web Site: http://www.fccthai.com


Images of this year's contest are available and can be obtained by contacting FCCT board member Patrick Barta at patrick.barta@wsj.com or 081-309-9109. Interviews with winning photographers can also be arranged.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS

Nicolas Asfouri is a photographer for Agence France Presse. Andrew Biraj was born in Bangladesh and studied in the U.K.. Currently a photographer for Reuters, his work has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Observer Magazine, The Times, the Christian Science Monitor and other publications. His work has been featured at Visa Pour l'Image, Perpignan, France; the Angkor photo festival in Cambodia; the Yangon Photo Festival in Myanmar, the International Photography Biennial of the Islamic World in Iran; and the National Art Gallery in Malaysia, among other places. He was selected for the World Press Photo JoopSwart Masterclass grant in 2008. He has also received numerous prizes including 1st prize, "Environmental Picture Story" category of "Best of Photojournalism" by NPPA, 2008; and 2nd Prize, Photojournalism category of the Venice International Photo Contest, 2007.

Susetta Bozzi is a freelance photographer based in Beijing, China. After working as a graphic designer she turned to photography in 2003. Her photographs have appeared in publications including Capital, Elle, Gente Viaggi, Io Donna, L'Espresso, The Observer, Vanity Fair and The Wall Street Journal.Her work has been featured at the Angkor Photo Festival in Cambodia. Three of her stories received an Honorable Mention at the International Photography Awards 2009.

Androniki Christodoulou was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1968 and has been based in Tokyo since the end of 2004. She studied photography and photojournalism in Greece and the UK and has worked for Greek and international magazines and newspapers since 1997 as a freelance photojournalist. She had several exhibitions of her work in Greece, London, Tokyo and New York. From 2005 until the middle of 2009 she has been represented by the New York-based photo agency World Picture News and she is a member of SHA-DO(, a Tokyo based photographers' collective.

Graham Crouch is an Australian photographer based in New Delhi. He worked for The Australian for 24 years, specializing in sports photography and covering many events such as the Olympics, Formula One car racing, international cricket and football. He also covered news, business, features and arts, before traveling to India. He works for The Australian, The Times in London and The National in Abu Dhabi.

Sudipto Das is a self-taught photographer now working as a senior photojournalist for The Times of India. He has also worked for the Associated Press, the European Press Photo Agency, BBC News online, SPAN and India Today magazine. He has covered a number of national and international assignments and received several international awards, including grand prize winner, Intrepid Photography Competition 2008, Australia; 1st in the portrait category of the Olympus Photo Contest 2008, Spain; Environmental Photographer of the Year 2007, U.K.; 1st prize in WHO International photo contest 2007, Switzerland; National Geographic Rising Star award, USA. His work has been shown in group exhibitions in Washington DC, Singapore, Amsterdam, London and elsewhere.

Orit Drori is an Israeli-born photographer from Rome who now lives in Chiang Mai. After studying in Rome, Drori worked with Gruppo Editoriale La Republica L'espresso Editorial Group and has shown work in a number of solo and group shows in Rome, Jerusalem, Vienna and elsewhere. Much of Drori's work focuses on Burma.

Lino "Linus" Guardian Escandor II is a photojournalist for The Manila Bulletin in the Philippines. He won second place, spot news in the Asia Media Awards 2008 and was recognized in the FCCT Photojournalism Contests in 2007 and 2008. He has won numerous other awards, including Photographer of the Year, US-Philipipine Military Exercises Photo Contest, 2009. He was among 100 photographers chosen to attend the Eddie Adams/Barnstorm XXll 2009 workshop in Jeffersonville, N.Y. in Oct. 2009.

Afriadi Hikmal is an Indonesian who took up photography as a stringer in 1996. He worked at BIAS, then several tabloids in the late 90s before becoming chief editor at Nurani (Jawa Pos Grup) from 2000 to 2005. He then worked four years as chief photographer at 'Behind The Screen' magazine, before joining the Jakarta Globe in August last year. His pictures have won numerous awards in various photo competitions in his country.

Richard Humphries is an award-winning British born freelance photojournalist. He has completed assignments for Time, Newsweek International, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times and The Guardian to name a few. Since 2004 he has been represented by New York-based photo agency Polaris Images. He is particularly interested in social issues, especially those that stem from ethnic and racial tension, conflict and dispute over borders, as well as issues relating to the environment. He has been living and working in Southeast Asia for over 13 years.

John Javellana is a Filipino photojournalist based in Manila, Philippines. He has covered significant newsworthy events in the country ever since he started as a professional in 2007. He currently works as a stringer for Reuters News Agency in Manila.

Gerhard Jörén is a Swedish photographer who worked first in advertising in New York before shooting for Scandinavian dailies Aftonbladet and Dagbladet. He moved to Hong Kong in 1987, which he used as a base for wide-ranging travels and freelance assignments for many magazines. For the past seven years he has been working on a black-and-white book exploring the weird and the sometimes sad and scary faces of sexual relations.

Brent Lewin is a documentary photographer who splits his time between Toronto and Bangkok. His work mainly focuses on the plight of the Asian elephant in Thailand and has received awards from Pictures of the Year International, Photo District News, the International Photo Awards and Prix de la Photographie Paris. His work has been featured in National Geographic, GEO and American Photo among others. He is represented by Redux Pictures and OnAsia.

James Mackay was born and raised in the U.K. His work has been published The Independent, The Irrawaddy Magazine, the Democratic Voice of Burma, and elsewhere. He was short-listed as one of the Young Photographers of the Year 2007 in SHOTS magazine and recognized by Prix de la Photographie de Paris in 2007 and 2009, when his project "Even Though I'm Free I Am Not" was awarded runner-up in the Political Photojournalism category. His work revolves mainly around Burma.

Sandipan Majumdar, a Kolkata-based photographer, has been recognized in a number of international contests including the Muslim International Photo contest, 2008; Epoch Time's International photo contest, 2008; India Shots International photo contest; and the Washington Post International Photo contest, 2009. He also won the B.D. Bangur Loan award in 2008 for his project "People and Culture of West Bengal," in India.

Dannyboy Pata is a photo correspondent for GMANews.TV and a photojournalism teacher at a state-owned university in Manila, Philippines.

Kittinun Rodsupan has been working as a photographer with the Nation Multimedia Group for 15 years. His photographs are published in The Nation, Bangkokbiznews and Kom Chad Luek.

Ritesh Uttamchandani works as a Senior Photographer for Open Media Network in Mumbai, India.

Thiti Wannamontha is a photographer for The Bangkok Post