Recording Visions of Youth, Amplifying Voices | Results of the "Witnessing the Present" International Youth Photography Competition Announced

SINGAPORE, Sept. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On the afternoon of August 17, 2025, the "Witnessing the Present" International Youth Photography Competition Award Ceremony was held at the prestigious Inter Art Center/Gallery located in the landmark 798 Art District in Beijing. Jointly organized by the Singapore Good Soil Foundation and Inter Art Center/Gallery, the competition invited middle school to university students aged 15 to 22 from around the world to capture through photography, their perspectives on contemporary life, their dreams for the future, and their reflections on youth and growth.

Event Highlights

The event was co-hosted by Project Initiators Ms. Faye Lo and Mr. Na Risong. At the opening, Mr. Na,  Artistic Director and Curator of Inter Art Center/Gallery, explained the intention behind launching the competition and emphasized the importance of providing a platform for young photography enthusiasts globally. Subsequently, Project Initiator Ms Faye Lo, Founder of Singapore Good Soil Foundation, and Project Co-Initiator Mr. Zack Cao also took the stage to deliver their speeches, sharing their hopes for young people to express themselves through photography and the Foundation's commitment to promoting the development of the arts for youths.

The event brought together leading figures from the worlds of photography and culture, including renowned photographers Zhu Xianmin, Wang Wenlan, He Yanguang, Xie Hailong, Ren Shulin, Guo Jianshe, Shang Junyi, Hei Ming, Zhang Xulong, Liu Li, Jia Yong, and Zhang Chunyu; Media professional Yang Lang; Professors Zhu Jiong and Jiating from the Beijing Film Academy School of Image Media and Communication; Deputy Editor-in-Chief of China Photography Journal Chai Xuan; Editor-in-Chief of ImageChina Net Cao Xu; Editorial Director of Popular Photography Li Xin; Editor-in-Chief of Photo Friend Liu Dong; China Photography editor Chen Qiushi; prominent blogger Luo Dawei; young photographer and Inter Art Center New Documentaries Prize winner Yang Wenbin; and Witnessing the Present award recipients Huang Anni, Qu Shizhe, and Cao Xuan. In addition, Liu Wenkui, Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, Zhang Boju, Head of the Ginkgo Foundation, Wang Dong, Director of Beijing Stars and Rain Education Institute for Autism, Zheng Yanjun, Partner of KIP Capital and Ren Tao, CEO of Beijing Zhide Lingcheng Cultural Development Co. Ltd also attended the press conference.

Global Participation
Since its launch, the competition has attracted widespread attention and enthusiastic participation from young people across China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, France, the United States, and beyond. Contestants ranged in age from 15 to 22, with the youngest participant just 15 years old.

The judging panel consisted of judges from all around the world, comprising of Mr. Edmund Clark (Renowned British video artist and Postgraduate Tutor of Journalism and Documentary Photography at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London (UAL) ), Mr. James Ramer (A Famous American Photographer, Curator and Professor at Parsons School of Design based in New York and Founding Director of the MFA Photography Program), Mr. JY (Jiang Yi) (Renowned Japanese Artist, Doctor of Physics and Representative of the Tokyo School of Painting), Ms. Faye Lo (Founder of the Singapore Good Soil Foundation) and Mr. Na Risong (Artistic Director and Curator of the Inter Art Center/Gallery).

Award Winners
After final deliberation by the five judges, the top three awards went to:

• First Prize: Traces of Light by Chen Beiting (Guilin University of Technology)
• Second Prize: Where the Light Ends by Chen Yumeng (Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts)
• Third Prize (tie): Butterfly Prison by Huang Anni (Beijing City University) and Winter Veins by Li Yuxiang (Guangxi Arts University)

Selected Award-Winning Works
The following showcase selected pieces from the winning works.
For the full showcase of winning works, please click here

Chen Beiting – Traces of Light (First Prize)

Since moving to Guilin for university, I've only been able to return home once every six months. As I grow older, memories of the past gradually resurface in my mind, but they come back in fragments. Certain scenes that once moved me continue to stir something within me. The distance of a thousand miles has made me reflect more deeply on the meaning of home and family in my life.

My photographic series Traces of Light uses memory as its vessel. I revisit places that once held those memories, seeking traces of time, layering remembered fragments over present-day scenes. In my recollections, those magical objects often glow, like little time machines guiding us against the current of time's flow, carrying us back to the hometowns of our memory.

Chen Yumeng – Where the Light Ends (Second Prize)

My visual notebook stitches together the folds of life through fractured perspectives, bringing back everyday fragments, weathered by time, into focus. Within these small, wayward stages, the disorder of objects and the poetics of living merge in a dance of entanglement. As existence itself becomes the developing fluid, each fleeting moment expands in the darkroom, branching into nebula-like roots of narrative.

Huang Anni – Butterfly Prison (Third Prize) [Tie]

I am a person with delicate emotions and strong empathy, yet also lively and cheerful by nature. Growing up immersed in Lingnan culture, however, my life has been shaped by the constant pull between tradition and modernity. In Guangdong's clan-based culture—like the sprawling roots of a towering tree—tradition permeates daily life: women's names are rarely recorded in ancestral tablets, my mother busied herself in the kitchen during festivals while men performed the rituals, and conversations about granddaughters inevitably circled back to marriage. Though my own family is relatively egalitarian, I still feel the weight of these unspoken rules during each holiday gathering. Many of my female friends continue to be shaped by such norms, often lacking self-confidence, or developing a people-pleasing disposition. Through my photography, I hope to inspire and encourage them to break free from these constraints, to build confidence, and to live beyond the limits imposed by tradition.

The creative process itself has also been a journey of self-growth. In shaping female figures within my work, I sought to convey a core idea: womanhood is not simply a gender, but a condition. It is a refusal to live under the gaze of gender, to reject objectification, and to resist the shame and expectations imposed on women's bodies today. In the age of social media, the female body has become a consumable image—what should be healthy and natural is instead distorted into a "perfect figure."

The butterfly, a creature often symbolizing rebirth and freedom, became a central motif throughout my series. Beyond being a striking visual element, it serves as a symbol carrying my deep yearning for liberation and renewal.

Li Yuxiang – Yu Hui (Third Prize)

Yu Hui is a photo series I created in 2024, documenting my nephew. Living with him day in and day out gave me the chance to observe him closely and truly get to know him.

He is a mischievous and energetic seven-year-old boy, well cared for and protected by his parents. Each day after waking, his greatest priority is to play—free of worries, free of concerns. He finds endless fascination in things I might otherwise dismiss as meaningless: a piece of cardboard, or a pile of pesticide bottles, can keep him happily engaged for hours.

From the outside, I watched him through my lens, capturing the precious qualities of childhood that shine so clearly in him. In his world there are no narrow confines, no constraints, only openness and freedom.

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Recording Visions of Youth, Amplifying Voices | Results of the "Witnessing the Present" International Youth Photography Competition Announced

Recording Visions of Youth, Amplifying Voices | Results of the "Witnessing the Present" International Youth Photography Competition Announced

Recording Visions of Youth, Amplifying Voices | Results of the "Witnessing the Present" International Youth Photography Competition Announced

Recording Visions of Youth, Amplifying Voices | Results of the "Witnessing the Present" International Youth Photography Competition Announced

Recording Visions of Youth, Amplifying Voices | Results of the "Witnessing the Present" International Youth Photography Competition Announced

 Prince Abdulaziz bin Talal credits the founders of AGFUND's microfinance banks for laying the foundations of its development impact

BANGKOK, Oct. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND) won the "Excellence in Inclusive Banking and Social Impact" award at the 2026 Sustainable Development Goals Awards, organized by the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) in cooperation with the European Savings and Retail Banking Group (ESBG).

AGFUND CEO Hammam bin Nasser bin Juraid accepted the award in Bangkok, Thailand, alongside the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group.

HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Talal bin Abdulaziz, President of AGFUND, said the recognition acknowledges AGFUND's experience using financial services to empower underserved communities, strengthen livelihoods and promote economic independence.

He credited the founders of AGFUND's microfinance banks, particularly the late Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, for establishing institutions centered on empowering people.

He added that the award reflects over two decades of commitment, the dedication of financial inclusion banks and partners, and clients who transformed financing into businesses and family income. He emphasized expanding opportunities and measuring success through lasting improvements in people's lives.

Prince Abdulaziz stressed that the recognition reflects the value of institutions reaching excluded populations and encourages broader access and economic opportunities for families.

AGFUND's financial inclusion banking network has served more than 1.3 million clients and disbursed over US$1.37 billion in financing since inception. Women represent 59 per cent of borrowers, demonstrating its contribution to economic empowerment.

Presented by WSBI, established in 1924, together with ESBG, the award recognizes an approach linking financial services, social impact and sustainable development.

Following its first bank in Jordan in 2004, AGFUND expanded across nine countries: Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan, Mauritania and Sierra Leone, focusing on communities underserved by conventional financial institutions.

The network has issued more than 1.5 million loans, opened over 927,000 savings accounts, established 112 branches and employed more than 1,500 people. Its services finance micro and small enterprises and income-generating activities, improving livelihoods and economic independence.

AGFUND plans to strengthen development partnerships, advance digital solutions and innovative financial products, and integrate financing with training, capacity development, market access and risk protection.

It is also exploring geographic expansion, particularly in Africa, through institutional partnerships that adapt successful approaches to local needs and extend sustainable financial inclusion to more communities.

Website - https://agfund.org/

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AGFUND wins international award for excellence in inclusive banking and social impact