Winners from the 2011 CGAP Microfinance Photography Contest

January 9, 2012    

The winner of this year’s Microfinance Photography Contest is Ngo Quang Phuc of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

Phuc, 53, is a doctor and a serious amateur photographer, who has been documenting life in Vietnam for two over decades. His photo won out over more than 2,000 entries from professional and non-professional photographers from over 70 countries around the world.

The photo of workers drying salt was taken in Khanh Hoa, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam.

The judges also selected 28 other photos from around the world as finalists. The winning photos can be viewed in a slideshow here.

Second Prize winner was also from Vietnam. “Drying Fish” shows private enterprise workers from Huynh Khang in Kian Giang Province, Vietnam laying fish out to dry for export.

While East Asia dominated the top two places, finalists came from every region, and for the first time this year the judges selected regional winners. A photo of a coal seller from Peru was awarded the regional prize for Latin America. “The Duck Shepherd,” an amusing portrait of a duck rearer herding his flock by boat by Mohammed Khalid Rayhan of Bangladesh won the South Asia award. China won the East Asia award. 

And “A Day at Cocoki” by Jonathan Kalan won the Africa award. In the photo, the door is nudged open to peer in on Jeanne Ugirimbabazi, a member of a women’s cooperative in Kigali, sewing a handbag that she will sell for income for her family.


Photographers from over 70 countries made this the most competitive year so far in the Contest, now in its sixth year. The winners are a mix of professional photographers, and those for whom photography is a passionate hobby, such as Mohammad Moniruzzaman, a microbiologist from Bangladesh who belongs to the Bangladeshi Photographers Club. Moniruzzaman was a finalist with “Harvest Season,” a beautifully balanced photograph taken in the southern part of Bangladesh before winter last year.


Our thanks to all the professional and nonprofessional photographers around the world who entered this year’s Contest. The 2012 CGAP Microfinance Photography Contest will open for entries in May 2012.

Click to see a slideshow of the winning photographs and for details of the winners.

Email Jeanette Thomas for further inquiries about the CGAP Microfinance Photography Contest.