The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the online newspaper Vnexpress will promote Viet Nam's beauty with a contest focusing on landscapes and slices of daily life. — Photo Vnexpress

HA NOI (VNS)  — The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the online newspaper Vnexpress will promote Viet Nam's beauty with a contest focusing on landscapes and slices of daily life, said deputy minister Vuong Duy Bien.

Vietnamese people living locally or overseas can enter the contest, which ends on October 27. Participants can submit photo entries in two categories: landscapes or daily life. Photos capturing precious moments among Vietnamese people anywhere will be accepted.

"The photo contest coincides with a Ministry of Culture programme to promote the country's image to the world. This is the first time the ministry has coordinated with Viet Nam's leading online newspaper to hold this contest," Bien said at the launching ceremony yesterday in Ha Noi.

A panel of foreign jurors will judge entries based on creativity and professionalism. They'll award two first-place prizes, two second-places and two third-places for each category. The prizes together total VND500 million. Vnexpress's readers can also vote online for the best photos each week during the contest's run.

The ministry and Vnexpress have received 12,000 photos by 5,700 photographers since the competition began in August. More than 700 photos selected from the qualifying round have already been posted online: http://photo.vnexpress.net.

The winners' work will appear in local and overseas photo exhibitions to promote Viet Nam's culture, landscape and people. The best photos will be added to the ministry's digital photo library and used for cultural events around the world. . — VNS