National Park Photo Contest Winners Selected... Grand Prize Work Praised as "A Piece of Oriental Painting"

Grand Prize Winner of the National Park Photo Contest "Seungcheon" (Source: Korea National Park Service)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Korea National Park Service announced on the 4th that it has selected 77 winning entries for the 19th National Park Photo Contest.

A total of 4,683 works featuring various themes such as natural park landscapes, ecology, and historical culture were submitted during the one-month contest held since July. Among these works, 77 pieces, including the grand prize winner, were honored with awards.

The grand prize-winning work, "Ascension" (by Kwon Young-deok), is a long-exposure photograph capturing the swirling mist enveloping the majestic Seoraksan Mountain, praised by the judges for its resemblance to an oriental painting.

The excellence awards were given to "When Azaleas Bloom at Munjangdae, Songnisan" (by Kim Heung-soon) and "Rainy Day at Haeinsa Temple" (by Seo Jeong-cheol). These two works respectively depict the mist and azaleas blending at Munjangdae in Songnisan and the serene atmosphere of Haeinsa Temple in Gayasan.

The grand prize winner receives the Minister of Environment Award along with a prize of 5 million won. Excellence, merit, encouragement, and honorable mention winners receive the Korea National Park Service Director's Award and prizes of 3 million won, 1 million won, 500,000 won, and 300,000 won respectively.

The winning works can be viewed on the Korea National Park Service website starting from the 5th, and photos can be downloaded for personal, non-commercial use only. From December, a collection of the contest's winning works will be available for purchase at bookstores nationwide.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.