2018 Fu Jen Photography Contest Shows Everyday Beauty of Campus

2019-02-12 • Student Life

Photo: Hao Chang’s Light won in the student category
 
The list of winners for the 2018 Fu Jen Photography Contest was announced on December 8 last year. The theme of the event was “Fu Jen in My Eyes.” Contestants were divided into three categories: students; alumni, faculty and staff; and general public. With several hundred submissions this year, emerging on top was no mean feat. The tantalizing prize this year included not just the usual prize money, but an exquisite vase – Golden Sea – donated by Fu Jen alumnus, Francis Li-Heng Chen, who, in addition to being the founder of the donating organization, Franz Collection, also serves as the president of the Fu Jen Catholic University Alumni Association.
 
The contest this year was organized by the Office of Human Resources. It had been several years since the event was last held, and the competition made its return in the hope of reinforcing or reestablishing current and past connections between students, alumni and FJCU. To do this, photography is the perfect medium. One of the contest regulations was that all photo submissions had to have been taken within the past three years. This served as the perfect excuse for alumni to again set foot on campus and witness the changes that have occurred over recent years.
 
The theme this time around was also unique, focusing on warm, friendly interaction, and discovering beautiful corners of campus through the eyes of contest participants. The entire process lasted almost a year – from initial planning at the beginning of 2018, to the judging in November, to the final selection of outstanding works and the announcement of winners in December.
 
Coordinator, Chi-Shu Huang, said that participants came from near and far, even including exchange students, who, while on campus for only a mere matter of months, were nevertheless able to produce memories in photo form. The organizer is even considering the addition of new contest categories in the future, ones that would allow smart phones and creative editing, which could add new energy and diversity into the contest, while attracting even more participants.
 
The winning works were displayed in the Cardinal Yu Pin Building, allowing the many students and alumni who walk by there a moment to pause and appreciate the photos, while gaining a new perspective on FJCU’s beauty.
 
Hao Chang, a student in the Department of Applied Arts, took home the prize in the student category for his submission, Light. His victory is unique in that, being an exchange student from Guizhou University, he was only at Fu Jen for half a year. Mr. Chang says he already possessed some basic photography skills when he learned about the contest, and wanted to take the opportunity to share with others what Fu Jen means to him. He originally thought that FJCU was a very solemn, sacrosanct place, a belief that was particularly reinforced by the large cross that greeted him upon first setting foot on campus. But as time passed, he came to realize that there is no reason the divine and the human need conflict – they can peacefully coexist. This insight was captured nicely in his winning photo, which shows the warm, slanting rays of the afternoon sun. The image not only displays Fu Jen’s charm, but captures a passing student; this addition of a human element encapsulates the vitality and sense of community on campus.
 
Min-Jyun Hsu managed to claim victory in the alumni, faculty, and staff category as well as earn the special Franz Collection prize for her work, Joy. Discovering the contest online piqued her interest, and led to a recollection of a frequent sight from Ms. Hsu’s student days: FJCU kindergarteners rambling about. Her photo captured the boisterous movements and radiant smiles of the children in front of Chung Mei Auditorium, a perfect symbol of Fu Jen’s vibrancy. As a parent herself, Ms. Hsu said that all mothers love taking pictures of their kids, and what such photos capture is precisely your daily life. Ms. Hsu even brought her child to the Cardinal Yu Pin Building to see the photo. A winner in her very first photo contest, Ms. Hsu had great beginner’s luck.