Bangkok--4 Sep--Indies Organizer Digital-camera market leader Canon will celebrate its 70th anniversary worldwide by holding a special programme entitled “Canon Photo Marathon Thailand 2007”. The event will be the first of its kind to be held in Thailand in which participants will be competing in a nine-hour long photo contest for the biggest prize of winning a chance to attend Canon Photo Clinic in Japan. Applications will be accepted from 1- 30 September. “Mr. Warin Tantipongpanich, Senior Director and General Manager of the Consumer Imaging and Information Division of digital-camera market leader Canon Marketing (Thailand) Co., Ltd, said: “To celebrate the auspicious occasion of the 70th anniversary of Canon worldwide, Canon Asia has arranged a special programme — a marathon photo contest or ‘Canon Photo Marathon Asia 2007’ — in five countries. The competition comprises six separate events including two in Vietnam and one each in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The ones in Vietnam and Malaysia have already been done in August. As for Thailand, applications are being accepted from today to 30 September via www.photomarathonasia.com. The competition is open to 500 Thai-nationality participants and the competition date is set on Saturday 6 October 2007. This is the first time for Thailand to hold a marathon photo contest that takes up to nine hours to complete.” The Canon Photo Marathon Thailand 2007 is a broad opportunity open to all people with no restriction to prior experience or age. Anyone who loves photography and owns any brand of digital cameras can apply to this contest. For more information about the competition, applicants are encouraged to visit and pre-register at www.photomarathonasia.com from 1 — 30 September. Only 500 applicants will be accepted and the application fee is 100 baht per person. All takings will be donated to a non-profit organization. The competition is to be held on Saturday 6 September 2007 at The Esplanade on Ratchadapisek Road. Contestants will be given three assignments of three different themes and required to complete each task and return with their photos ready for downloading into a computer server within a three-hour period. The second and third assignments will be given to participants after they have finished downloading their previous assignment photographs and the judges will evaluate all the pictures after each round. Three sets of prizes (1 ‘Best of Theme’ winner & 2 Merit Awards) are given for the best pictures in each round of assignment. The "Best of Show" winner and the ‘Runner-Up will be judged based on all their works in the three rounds. Moreover, the winner and the first runner-up will be given a chance to attend Photo Clinic activities together with a professional Japanese photographer and other winners from four other countries in Kyushu, Japan for more than a week. Mr. Warin also said that apart from being a celebration of the 70th anniversary of Canon, the special programme Cannon Photo Marathon Thailand 2007 is also arranged with regard to the importance of development of digital camera technologies which are now equipped with many photographic techniques. The competition is aimed to add a bit of colour to the Thai photographer circles and intended for both professional and amateur photographers to show their talents andcreativity through the lens of the digital camera. In a way, Canon also hopes that this photo contest will be a kind of fun activities for anyone to join as well as a forum for experience exchanging between camera users rather than a sole competition for prizes as above-mentioned. This special programme is to be held as the first of its kind in Thailand and takes the longest time of nine hours to complete. Therefore, it should be a good opportunity for all to join this activity and make a new record and success together with Canon. NOTE TO EDITOR About Canon Marketing Thailand Canon Marketing (Thailand) Co., Ltd, is established in 1994 and the subsidiary of Japan’s Canon Inc, has over 400 employees. Canon Marketing (Thailand) Co., Ltd, continues providing a range of digital imaging equipments and office solutions with a team of direct sales personnel and a network of more than 120 dealers and 130 service centers to provide comprehensive customer service to Canon users throughout Thailand. At Canon we dedicate to the advancement in technology and innovation and commit 10% of its total revenue each year to R&D. Canon has consistently remained as one of the top 3 companies to earn the most number of patents over the last decade. Since 1993, Canon continues to be ranked as one of the world's largest corporations by the Fortune Global 500 Ranking. Guided by its kyosei philosophy, which focuses on "living and working together for the common good," Canon delivers high-performance and user-friendly products and solutions to improve efficiency both in the office and home environment. More information is available at www.canon.co.th More information about Canon Photo Marathon 2007 is available at www.photomarathonasia.com (From 1-30 September 2007) Media Enquiries Canon Marketing Thailand Co., Ltd Pataneeya Siripraprut Tel: 02-344-9999 ext. 134 Email: [email protected]; Indies Organizer Co.,Ltd. Tippawan Wortong Tel: 081 421 2923 Email: [email protected]