Ezra Acayan

“Ezra Acayan’s photo essay on The Philippines’ experience of a second year of covid chaos was as emotive as it was hard-hitting. Opening with a stunning image that immediately invokes a sense of the suffering of people who have been forsaken by the state and are at the mercy of church volunteers, this well-edited series takes us through a hit-list of the worst effects visualised: each picture telling a story in its own right, resulting in a narrative that is greater than the sum of its parts.”

— Cassie Trotter Spencer, APAC News, Sport and Entertainment

Despite remaining under the world's longest lockdown for most of 2021, the Philippines still experienced one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in Southeast Asia. Millions went hungry and jobless as businesses closed, and those infected struggled to get beds in hospitals. Healthcare workers have resigned out of fear and exhaustion as they bear the brunt of what critics say is a failed pandemic response. The government has been heavily criticized for its sluggish vaccination campaigns, overly militarized solutions, and corruption of billions in pandemic response funds.

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2nd Place

Hkun Lat

Myanmar declared martial law in the country, including its two largest cities, as massive protests drew people to the streets after the country's military junta staged a coup against the elected National League For Democracy (NLD) government and detained de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Police fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannon to disperse protesters at demonstrations across the country in the popular resistance movement’s early days.

As the protests grew bigger and more widespread, armored vehicles began appearing on the streets, but protesters turned out despite the military presence. The military junta moved to keep the Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest after she was charged with violations of import-export and Covid prevention laws, and later was tried in a military court widely deemed a sham proceeding both inside and outside the country.

The military junta continued a brutal crackdown on a nationwide civil disobedience movement in which thousands of people have turned out in continued defiance of live ammunition, beatings, torture and other reported gross violations of human rights. Local media and monitoring organizations estimate that over hundreds people have been killed since the coup began, including dozens of children and minors who have been indiscriminately killed.

The junta further expanded its campaign by using military hardware such as tanks, APCs, drones, artillery, jets and heavy weapons against its own people, driving the country into a steep cycle of violence and destruction.

3rd Place

Lauren DeCicca

Sparked by the Thai government’s poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the imprisonment of pro-democracy leaders, anti-government protesters took to the streets in mass rallies throughout Bangkok in 2021 often facing a brutal response by the Thai police.

Initial demands called for the dissolution of Parliament, the removal of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, and a redrafting of the constitution. But as the movement developed, protesters publicly called for the reformation of the Thai monarchy - an unprecedented move - and for the repeal section 112, a criminal code in Thailand’s lese majeste laws which carry up to 15 years in prison.