/ 2025 / Portraiture / Culture

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Meng-Tzu He, Taiwan

In Shezidao, Taiwan, there is a century-old cultural tradition that also serves as a rite of passage for local young men. Every Lantern Festival, young men carry the palanquin of the Earth God in a ritual procession through the village, passing by farmlands, factories, and homes to bring blessings, prosperity, and peace to the land and its people.

We believe that the more firecrackers explode, the greater the blessings received from the Earth God.