Hou Bo's masterpiece photo of Mao and the new leaders announcing the founding of the People's Republic of China is donated to the organizing committee of the 2016 Pingyao International Photography Festival (PIP) on Sept 21, 2016. [Photo/pip919.com]

"Life in Corners" puts human-nature relations under spotlight

This year's awards consisted of eight categories including natural scenery, social lifestyle and art concept.

The highly anticipated "excellent photographer" trophy went to Chinese natural ecology photographer Gu Ying, together with an award of 100,000 yuan ($15,000). Gu's photo series Life in Corners reflects on the relations between humans and animals and calls for people to respect nature and animals.

Two international photojournalists won honors at the festival, including Switzerland's Niels Ackermann in the category of social life and Germany's Claudia Faehrenkemper in art concept.

Ackermann's work, The Children of Chernobyl Have Grown Up, tells the stories of the youth of Ukraine's Slavutych - the city borne from the aftermath of the catastrophic Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.

Faehrenkemper's Armor series deals with representative suits of armor, which were made especially for emperors, kings and great generals from the 15th to the 17th centuries and are found in important armor collections worldwide.