At Hanoi’s Crowne Plaza Hotel in June 2014, V’Spirit Cruises, a part of the V’Spirit Premier Cruise, hosted an event that proudly displayed the natural splendour of Vietnam for all to see. The ‘Green Spirit Environmental Photo Contest’ was a conscious effort by our environment-conscious team to find examples of unhampered beauty within our beautiful country through fantastic pieces of photographic art.

Contestants had two weeks in June 2014 to submit their photos onto our Facebook with a brief description of the scene they had captured. V’Spirit Cruises were blown away by some of the submissions, but it was down to public voting to decide who would take the prize. The collection of entries that we received was simply staggering, and contained incredible images of birdlife, iconic mountain ranges, rural villages and fishing moments immortalised. The winners were selected and came to the Crowne Plaza Hotel to collect their prizes.

Nguyen Minh Quang was the recipient of our first prize with an entry simply called – ‘Co To’. This is also the name of the island that features within; a far-flung destination at the eastern reaches of Halong Bay. Only around 5,000 people make Co To their home, so much of the majesty of the island is that of prehistoric nature left untouched by man. Nguyen Minh Quang captured this best at sunset over the rocky shore and won two vouchers for a 3-day, 2-night Halong Bay tour, worth 11 million VND, with the V’Spirit Cruise.

Huy Dinny was the photographer behind our second-prize winning entry, entitled ‘A Life Beside the Đáy River’. Fish are still popularly caught in the traditional way on the Đáy River – with simple wooden boats and large cast nets – supporting millions of people along its 240km length. The Đáy is a run-off of the famous Red River, which flows from Hanoi province to Ninh Binh province, eventually finding the East Vietnam Sea. For his entry, Huy Dinny won two vouchers for a 2-day, 1-night Halong Bay tour, worth 7 million VND, aboard the V’Spirit Cruise.

For his entry, ‘Immense green’, Nguyen Hanh took the third prize and recognition for his beautiful photo of this misty forest in Lam Dong province. This photo was actually taken outside of Da Lat, a popular tourist destination with a year-round cool temperature because of its elevation. For his photo, Nguyen Hanh was the recipient of our third prize: 2 million VND and a Green Spirit gift basket.

We had one more prize to give away during the contest, and that was the Impressive Photographer Prize, the winner of which was personally selected by a vote amongst the Green Spirit team. Hoang Hai Thinh was the winner of that vote with his picture ‘Loneliness aligned”. This enchanting photo was taken on a lake in Ba Diem commune, Ha Nam province, just at the moment that a pink sunrise reflected perfectly beneath a lone fisherwoman. As a result of his photo, Hoang Hai Thinh won two vouchers for a 2-day, 1-night tour on the V’Spirit Cruise.