The Vietnam heritage photo contest has been launched by the Cultural Heritage Association of Vietnam to celebrate Viet Nam National Heritage Day on November 23.

Organised annually since 2012, the contest aims to introduce images of Vietnam to the international community and to raise public awareness of maintaining and preserving the cultural and natural heritages of the country.

In addition to traditional themes such as nature, culture, and lifestyle, there will be two new themes namely Ao Dai (Vietnamese traditional long dress) and travel experiences in Vietnam. 

All Vietnamese citizens and foreigners can send colored or black and white entries as long as they were captured within the last two years. Each candidate can send a maximum of four single photos for each category and four photo collections. Each set should contain no more than six photos.

Entries can be sent to cuocthianhdisanvietnam@gmail.com until September 30. No time limit has been set for the Ao Dai category.

The 100 best photos will be selected for an exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang. They'll be posted online as well.

There are 18 prizes in total which consist of 12 main prizes and six Junior Photo Awards for photographers under 25 years old. Canon is the main sponsor of the contest and they'll be offering their advanced cameras and printers as prizes. In addition, there is one special prize that will be given by low-cost carrier Vietjet Air for pictures with images of the airline.  

The organizing board will announce the results on October 20 and the awards ceremony will take place this November in Ho Chi Minh City.