Chairman of the Photography Association requests withdrawal of controversial award

On March 21, Mr. Vu Quoc Khanh - Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists - sent an open letter requesting to withdraw two awards from the previous Artistic Photography Exhibition Summarizing 30 Years of Innovation (1986 - 2016).

Mr. Vu Quoc Khanh's Mother's Sun won the Special Prize of the 1991 National Photo Contest "Vietnamese Children and Our Concerns" organized by the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists and the Swedish Ambassador.

Mr. Khanh's two photos, "Vietnam's Smile" and "Mother's Sun", were selected by the Jury to win A and C prizes (out of 8 A prizes and 16 C prizes overall).

Public opinion was stirred because he was both the Head of the Steering Committee, Head of the Organizing Committee and Head of the Appraisal Council of this exhibition's summary.

Mr. Khanh's letter to the Association members, the Steering Committee, the Organizing Committee, and the Appraisal Council stated: "In recent days, there have been questions about the organization and appraisal of works, causing mixed public opinion on social networks.

There are opinions that my personal holding of multiple roles in this summary affects the objectivity of the assessment... The responsibility for allowing such public opinion to arise first and foremost belongs to the leader.

With the desire to continue to strengthen trust, create solidarity, and gather artists in the Association's activities, I voluntarily withdraw the above two works from the award system and exhibition of the Summary.

Mr. Khanh also took responsibility for organizing and managing this selection round and considered this a lesson to learn from for the Association's upcoming activities.

According to TTO