Winning pet photos on display in Seongsu-dong

A photograph capturing a child and a dog sitting quietly together beneath spring blossoms has taken the top prize at this year's Animal Love Photo and Video Contest.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced Monday that it had selected 16 winning works from the 19th Animal Love Photo and Video Contest.

This year's contest ran from June 22 to July 31 under the theme "A society where people and animals thrive together," drawing 1,844 submissions — 1,659 photographs and 185 videos.

Through expert judging and an online public vote, organizers selected 16 winners: one grand prize, two excellence awards, four merit awards and nine encouragement awards. Prize money totaling 7.1 million won ($5,220) will be distributed among the winners.

The grand prize — the Minister of Agriculture's award — went to Yoon Byeong-chan for his photograph "You and Me" ("Neoragnanarang"), entered in the photography category. The work shows a child and a pet dog resting beneath bright spring flowers. Judges praised it for capturing a peaceful everyday moment between a person and an animal in nature, without any staged composition, saying it embodied the contest's theme of a society where people and animals live happily together.

The winning works will be available through the National Animal Protection Information System and the ministry's official YouTube channel and SNS accounts. They will also be on display at an animal welfare pop-up store called "Oneureun 1004" at The Garbe in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, from Oct. 2 to Oct. 5, followed by a touring exhibition at major KTX stations across the country.

Lee Yong-jik, director general of the ministry's Animal Welfare Policy Bureau, said the winning entries captured the joy of everyday life shared between people and animals. "We hope to use these works across a range of promotional content to help spread the idea that animals are life companions deserving of respect, and to foster a more mature culture of animal welfare," he said.