For around 5 years, I worked as a CSR and provided back-end support for the organization’s more than 20 design and art competition websites, which included providing assistance to the entrants and a guide to successfully completing their submissions to the platform.

I also oversaw over 1000 daily photo submissions, ensuring that each entry fell into the correct category as specified in each entrant’s account. This task also includes drafting an invitation for the winners and sending a letter of request for winners applying for VISAs to attend award ceremonies, which usually happen in the US and in France. 

During my time with organizations, I participated in the FGD process, which involved creating user-friendly back-end interfaces for competition websites. One of the major websites I co-created was for the Asian branch of the International Photography Awards, known as IP Philippines, which I co-managed alongside its founder and CEO, Hossein Farmani. We did competitions for IPA for three consecutive years. 

In the Philippines, I managed several exhibitions, both in public spaces and universities, to promote photography using the winning images from the International Photography Awards. This included international collaborations, which led to partnerships in terms of mentoring students with the Camera Club of the Philipines and the AB Photo Department of De La Salle College of St. Benilde.

While working with Farmani Group, the founder, Hossein Farmani, and I decided to create the Philippine edition of the prestigious competition in the Philippines to cater to the brand and style of photography that dominate the country’s visual culture. It was an experimental move to recognize the significance of Filipinos’ unique visual storytelling style, which contrasts with the Western approach and tendencies.

Over the course of three years, we successfully garnered a following from the community, with the support of Filipino photographers. We invite the local winners to participate as finalists in the major awards at the Lucie Awards in New York, a first in the history of the Lucie Awards. Despite the absence of Filipino finalists who emerged as top winners in the Lucie Awards, the entries effectively showcased the prevalent issues in the Philippines, such as extrajudicial killings and climate change, to a global audience.

“The International Photography Awards conducts an annual competition for professional, non-professional, and student photographers on a global scale, creating one of the most ambitious and comprehensive competitions in the photography world today. “