The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) recently announced the 24 grand winners of their annual Photography Contest. Spread across three general categories of Conventional, Drone, and Mobile photography; the competition has been eagerly followed and subscribed to since its inception. This year alone, the 2025 PAGCOR Photography Contest drew nearly 4,000 entries from both professional and amateur photographers, from all over the country.

The 2025 theme was ‘Infrastructure for Economic Development’; so you can imagine the possibilities that opened up, with photos that would showcase the pivotal and essential role that infrastructure plays in nation-building. Held at the Met Live, the awarding was graced by no less than PAGCOR Chairman Alejandro Tengco. And he remarked to those who were awarded, “Your extraordinary talent shows us that Filipino creativity is world-class. While PAGCOR’s primary duty is regulation, revenue generation, and tourism promotion, we are equally proud of advocacies like this that nurture talent, and give Filipinos the platform they deserve.”

Chairman Tengco added that this year’s theme was a timely reminder that “infrastructure is not just concrete and steel, but lifelines of progress that connect families, fuel industries, and open doors to opportunities.” This columnist would like to supplement this by saying that this is especially important given what’s going on today. We should recognize that infrastructure in itself is worthy, and is crucial for national development. That it’s been abused and made a tool to corruption via substandard and ghost projects means we should weed out the culpable individuals, no matter where or who they are, and not lay blame on the concept of, or in the infrastructure itself.

Mark Balmores, a veteran photographer at the Manila Bulletin, took home a Mobile Category win for his Subway In the Metro image. It was a poignant juxtaposition of the ongoing construction at the Camp Aguinaldo station, that’s part of the Metro Manila Subway Project, with the human element of the workers assigned to the project. Steel, concrete, machinery, all harnessed to serve the people of this metropolis, and endeavoring to alleviate some of the commuting headaches we face on a daily basis.

I also liked the Conventional category winner, Harvesting Sunshine: Powering Progress, shot by Maxwell John Bongo. It captured renewable energy infrastructure via solar panels, as found in Toledo City, Cebu; but again, reminded us of the human factor in these projects, by highlighting a worker attending to the panels. It brought home how progress and renewable energy also creates jobs, and drives economic growth in the community.

Eight grand winners in the Conventional category each took home P100,000. The 16 grand winners from the Mobile and Drone categories received P50,000 each. Consolation prize winners in the Conventional category were awarded P35,000; while those in the Mobile and Drone categories romped away with P20,000 each. This helps explain the enthusiastic response that the Photography Contest elicits annually.

For those whose interest have been piqued, know that Chairman Tengco announced the theme for the 2026 competition during the awarding ceremonies last month. And it was greeted with broad smiles and enthusiastic applause. The theme for 2026 is Kids@Play, and one can already visualize how this will pan out, with wonderful images of children at play. The photos will show their innocence and guileless charm, and how their simple activities can help shape values such as discipline, persistence, teamwork, sportsmanship, and resilience.

I was even excited with the prospect of maintaining the Drone category for this 2026 theme, and how an overhead shot of kids playing in a soccer field, marching in a barangay parade, or even an activity like kite-flying, could now be captured in a photograph. It fired up the imagination of the assembled photographers to plan for next year’s contest.

Whether a veteran photographer like our Mark Balmores, or whether an amateur who has an eye for capturing exciting visuals, I recognize how they’re all grateful that a contest such as this PAGCOR Photography Contest exists. That it has recognized the various ways in which these images are generated and seen, is a credit to PAGCOR, and the organizers of the Contest.