2017 was the most successful celebration yet of World Chaîne Day.

The introduction of a photo competition was enthusiastically supported by hundreds of contributors around the world. A big thank you goes to everyone for their participation.

The quality of the images received was outstanding. As a result, the task for the panel of judges was not easy. Nevertheless winners had to be chosen and they are listed below with comments as to why they were selected.

[Ed. The photos on the left are listed from top to bottom in the order they are announced in the text below. They are published in exactly the same shape as received albeit with a neutral background added where necessary to create the standard format required for Chaîne News On-line images.]

“Best Photo” - Winner
Entered by Gurdeep Nayer; taken at an event for the Bailliage of Mombasa, Kenya
Independently making their shortlists this photo immediately struck all the judges as encapsulating the spirit of World Chaîne Day. Comments included: “excellent feeling, wonderful sea and sky, happy people wearing ribbons and clearly having good time, sympathetic simple boat, what effort had been made to prepare the text and logo on the sail.

“Best Photo” - Runner-up
Entered by Kevin Chang; taken at an event for the Bailliage of Shenzhen, China
No faces visible but one can still feel the joy and spirit of the moment. Nicely-decorated wine glasses. Informal relaxed feeling in a well composed image.

“Best Photo” - Third Place
Entered by Lars Geiger; taken at an event for the Bailliage of Liechtenstein
Nicely symbolises the global concept of World Chaîne Day. Two prominent Chaîne members proudly wearing their red ribbons and clearly enjoying the moment!

“Professional at work”
Entered by Gigi Choy, taken at a joint event for the Bailliages of Nanaimo, Victoria, and Vancouver
Nice rhythm especially with the hands of the Chef in the middle and on the right the eyes are drawn the beautiful dessert plate under construction. You can feel the intense atmosphere and wordless co-operation between the professionals.

“Most Joyful”
Entered by Kevin Chang; taken at an event for the Bailliage of Shenzhen, China
Nice composition with the circles imitating our Chaîne logo. Very good feeling displayed, one can see that everybody is enjoying the moment in this picture exuding sparkling joy and vitality.

“Best Food”
Entered by Coco Reinarhz; taken at an event for the Bailliage of Johannesburg, South Africa
The blue plate frames the main item nicely. Combining with the orange of the sauce it makes for a colourful contrast. Lighting nicely shows the contours of the fish. Perfect exposure shows the detail of the grains of black rice, something which is difficult to get right.

Hearty congratulations are due to all the winners. They can all be very proud indeed of the achievement and will be receiving a formal certificate to commemorate their success.

We are now looking forward to 2018 and next year’s World Chaîne Day event which is guaranteed to be bigger and better than ever. Make a note of the date: Saturday, April 21!

Ari-Pekka Parviainen
Chair, World Chaîne Day Organising Committee
Member of the Conseil d’Administration

Panel of Judges
In addition to Ari-Pekka Parviainen who chaired the Panel, members were Marie Jones (International Vice-President & Managing Editor of the Chaîne News On-line and Revue internationale de la Chaîne) and Tomaz Dular (Officier - Bailliage of Slovenia) in his capacity as a highly-accomplished amateur photographer.