Fil-Am photographer wins NatGeo photo contest

Filipino-American writer-photographer Yen Baet won the grand prize of the National Geographic Exceptional Experience photo contest for her photo "Rainy Night in Hallstatt." On her Twitter account, Baet announced that she won the photo contest: "It's official! Rainy Night in Hallstatt takes Grand Prize at NatGeo Photo Contest. Thanks for the support!" "A heartfelt THANK YOU once again to those of you who saw this through & made it happen. Will always be grateful," she said in another tweet. The contest results were also posted on the National Geographic website. "Those votes were definitely hard-earned, and I can’t stress that enough. Most of it came from people I don’t even know and spurred on by genuine friends and family who believed that this was so important to me, enough for them not to ignore or consider trivial," she wrote on her blog. Baet was born and raised in the Philippines and eventually immigrated to the US. She lived in Japan and Germany before moving to England, where she is now based. She is the only Filipino to make it to the finals of the National Geographic photo contest. In an earlier interview with GMA News Online, she said she is proud to represent the country in the contest. She bested five other finalists with her entry that was taken two years ago, on a rainy autumn day in the scenic village of Hallstatt in Austria. The winner was selected through online voting, and each participant was allowed to cast only one vote. Only legal U.S. residents aged 18 years or older were allowed to vote. The finalist entry that received the highest number of valid votes during the voting phase was declared Grand Prize winner. Baet won for herself a nine-day trip for two to Peru, where she and a guest will visit the Incan mountaintop ruins of Machu Picchu, listen to music of the Andes, and attend a private weaving demonstration. The approximate retail value of the prize is $13,000. The five runners-up will each receive a copy of National Geographic Simply Beautiful Photographs, valued at $35 per book. — RSJ, GMA News