2024 Judges

Jin Gong – Chair

Former senior consultant of the Federal Reserve Board, Jin Gong, has over 20 years of experience as a landscape photographer. His pictures have received many awards and been published. He believes that photography is a continuous process of challenging oneself and pursuing perfection, as well as a dialogue between humans and nature.

Ian Plant

Whether hanging over the rim of an active volcano or braving the elements to photograph critically endangered species, Ian Plant has spent the past two decades traveling the globe in his never-ending quest to capture the beauty of our world with his camera. Ian has reached hundreds of thousands of people in his mission to inspire and educate others in the art of photography. Ian is the author of dozens of books and instructional videos, an instructor for KelbyOne and other photography education outlets, and founder of Photo Masters, a site dedicated to photography education and inspiration.

https://ianplant.com/
https://www.photomasters.com

Hazel Meredith

Hazel Meredith is an award-winning photographer and a sought-after teacher, speaker, and competition judge. She began teaching in 2007, and now does seminars at camera clubs and conferences across the U.S. – both in-person and virtual. She offers her own workshops and webinars, and has done webinars for several software companies.
She has written two eBooks on working with textures, and released two creative courses. She and her husband, Dave, produce the “Virtual Creative Photography Conference” with attendees from around the world. Hazel loves the creative aspect of photography and post- processing, especially the use of textures and software to create unique images.
She is actively involved with the photographic community, and has held leadership roles and received honorary distinctions from several organizations. In the Fall of 2020 she was the recipient of the Ashbrook Award for Digital Imaging Instruction from the Photographic Society of America.

www.MeredithImages.com
www.MeredithImages.wordpress.com
www.Facebook.com/MeredithImages

Enpu Yang

Enpu Yang is a retired professor from the Beijing Film Academy and the honorary dean of Huaguang Photography College. He also serves as an advisor to the China Overseas Chinese Photography Association. After graduating from the Beijing Film Academy in 1961, he dedicated himself to film and television production, creating numerous documentaries and educational films. His notable works include The Maritime Silk Road and Photography Guide. In the 1990s, he transitioned to screenwriting and directing television dramas, with representative works such as The Years of Studying with Zhou Enlai (which won the Second Prize at the “Flying Apsaras Awards” for Chinese TV dramas and the Excellent Short TV Drama Award at the “Golden Eagle Awards”).
Enpu has also served as the Chairman of the Theory Committee of the China Photographers Association and has frequently been a judge for national and international photography competitions. His published works include Fundamentals of Photographic Aesthetics and Introduction to Photographic Appreciation. He has written over a million words of articles and published hundreds of photographs in various newspapers and magazines, both domestically and internationally. His paper Analysis of Academic Films in China has received awards both in China and abroad. In 2006, he was recognized as an “Outstanding Photographer in the 50 Years of New China” by the China Photographers Association.

Weike Zhao

Mr. Weike Zhao is a long-time documentary and street photographer. He was shortlisted in 1992 in China for the Top Ten Chinese Young Photographer Award. In 1993 Mr. Zhao held his solo photo exhibition “Impression of the American West” and “American Cowboy” in China in 2005. From 2006 – 2009, Mr. Zhao worked as a photo editor for the US Marine Corps under the contract between Washington Post and the US Department of Defense. In 2007 he won the first place of US Marine Corps Combat Correspondent Association Award and in 2008 the first place of US Department of Defense Thomas Jefferson Award. In 2015, he was invited as a guest speaker to the opening ceremony of Beijing International Photography Week in China. In the same year, he was invited as the keynote speaker to the Sino-US Vivian Maire’s Photography Symposium in China. In 2020, he held a solo photo exhibition “Amish’s Spring” at the 8th Jinan International Biennale Photography Exhibition in China and won the Outstanding Photographer award of the Event. In 2024, he served as the executive director as well as the judge for the First Worldwide Overseas Chinese Humanist Photography Award.

Shicheng Huang

Shicheng Huang is an advisor to the Atlantic Photographers Association (APA), former Vice Chairman of the North American Mobile Photography Association (NAMPA), and an art mentor. He is a member of several photography associations in North America and serves as a photojournalist for the Manitoba Chinese Tribune. His works have won numerous awards in various photography competitions. He is the founder of a practical mobile photography course and a senior lecturer, as well as a certified landscape photographer by Tuchong. He has served multiple times as a judge and head judge in photography competitions. In 2021, he was one of the panel speakers for the Xinflix Media “Poems in Dream, Hand in Hand, Heart with Heart” TV Photography Forum.

Emma Zhao

Currently residing in Toronto, Canada.
Certified interpreter in Ontario,
freelance photographer,
real estate photographer,
owner of Emma Photography Studio.
Former Vice President of the Atlantic Photographers Association.
Former Art Instructor for the North American Mobile Photography Association.
Photography works have won numerous awards in domestic and international photography competitions, including:

• 2020 RHCC Black and White Macro First Prize
• 2019 TIPF Best Folklore Award
• 2019 TIPF Vanguard Photography Medal Award
• 2019 Canada Dream Cabinet Cup Photography Competition Silver Award
• 2018 North American Mobile Photography Competition Art Category Gold Award
• 2018 TIPF Vanguard Photography Medal Award
• 2017 TIPF International Photography Festival Excellence Award
• 2017 JEPA Fall Competition Gold Award
• 124 Toronto Photography Salon Excellence Award
• 2017 PSA Art Category Excellence Award
• 2017 CAPA Art Category Excellence Award

Some works are included in renowned photography art galleries ：1x.com/emmazhao

John Fan

John Fan, PhD is a medical physicist in radiation oncology. Besides his outstanding professional career, John is also a world renowned photographer. He is the winner of many prestigious photography awards. His work has been published extensively in international magazines, books, and galleries. His books “Rational Inspiration” and “Talks about Photography” were published in 2017 and 2019 respectively. He is also a curator of the online photo gallery 1X.com and its China ambassador, and the co-founder of the acclaimed 4Aperture fine art photography group.

https://johnfanphotography.com/

Hua Zhu

Hua Zhu, Ph.D. from Columbia, USA, professor at Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School, and a landscape photographer. For more than 20 years, he traveled all over the world. His group pictures won the gold medal in the “Foreigners Looking at Beijing” photography competition; his wide-format works in Banff won the only annual grand award in the 5th Sony Natural Color Annual Competition; in 2017, he was invited to participate in the first global Chinese Photography Art Exhibition and served as a judge and a special lecture guest on photography; in 2017 and 2019, he held two personal photography exhibitions at the China Photography Exhibition Hall of the Chinese Photographers Society; his “Night Lights” was selected by National Geographic Photo of the Day for January 1, 2018.

Some of his photos were posted on: https://1x.com/huazhu.