Migrant worker Wei Qinggang grasps a girl who is nearly swept into Shazikou Bay in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, during Typhoon Matsa on Aug. 8 last year -- the words fail to convey the life and death drama that was captured on film.

"Only the lens can express my feelings of how I saw Wei jump into the sea three times to save the girl," said Qian Cheng, the young Chinese photographer who won the spot news prize at the first Asia Press Photo Contest here Thursday.

Qian and seven other photographers and journalists distinguished themselves from more than 500 candidates from nearly 20 Asian countries and regions, as well as Britain, United States and Russia. The other seven top-prize winners for different photo categories are Remar Zamora from the Philippines, G.M.B. Akash and Abir Abdullah both from Bangladesh, Nguyen Viet Thanh from Vietnam, Guo Jianshe from China, Munehiro Okumura from Japan and Kraisornkhajit from Thailand.

More than 20,000 photographs were submitted to the judges in the categories of spot news, general news, economic, scientific and technical news, portraits, daily life and sports news, arts and entertainment news, nature and environmental news.

"The photos, covering all moods, are stunning, evocative, and photojournalism at its best," said Zhu Ling, editor-in-chief of China Daily, who initiated the contest. "They have managed to provide us with a perspective of the continent and its 3.7 billion inhabitants."

The contest, with the theme "Changing Asia", asked candidates to display the achievements, conflicts and important events of the continent, and highlight the lives, emotions and determination of the Asian people.

"A picture says a thousand words," said Pana Janviroj, executive director of Asia News Network which was the contest's main sponsor.

He believed the contest would generate interest within and outside the continent, and help people better understand and experience Asia today.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2006)