SHANGRI-LA Hotels and Resorts, one of the world’s premier luxury hotel groups, unveiled the winners of its second “My Shangri-La” Photography Contest on Dec. 23 in partnership with Travel Channel at sina.com as well as National Geographic, New Weekly and Photographer’s Companion magazines.

The winning photographs were the result of a highly professional and critical selection process by a panel of judges.

Following the first successful contest in 2009, which aimed to encourage people to capture the essence of “Shangri-La” through their camera lens while reflecting the “Shangri-La” qualities of grace, serenity, mysticism and enchantment, the group’s second “My Shangri-La” Photography Contest explored the theme of “Love and Harmony.” The photo “Children in the Summer Rush” by Zou Subin won the gold award.

Launched Aug. 31, the contest received nearly 3,000 photographs within two months from nearly 2,000 photographers who conveyed their own interpretation of “Shangri-La.” The contest presented prizes under the categories of Gold, Silver, Bronze, Individual and Excellent Awards.

“It really exceeded my expectations... The ‘My Shangri-La’ Photography Contest has done a lot for photography, nature, traveling and spreading beauty, which is very good and embodies the group’s core values,” said international award-winning movie director Tian Zhuangzhuang, one of the judges of the contest.

The award ceremony Dec. 23 also marked the launch of the “My Shangri-La” Photography Contest exhibition tour. All the winning photographs, together with selective works from the judges, will be exhibited at several Shangri-La hotels throughout China from December 2011 to June 2012.

(Tang Li)