An exhibition featuring all the winning entries of the 4th Asia Press Photo Contest was unveiled on Monday in Beijing.

Gold prizes for categories including General News, Portraits and Spot News were given to eight photographers from Malaysia, Bangladesh and China.

Also on display were some of the 133 works that won excellence awards in the contest, which was held under the theme "Changing Asia".

Hosted by Asia News Network and organized by China Daily, the contest received entries from nearly 2,000 photographers from more than 10 countries since it opened in March.

The winners were selected by a panel of judges from Thailand, Bosnia and Herzegovina, India and China, with gold prize winners receiving a cash award in addition to having their winning entry included in a photo album and exhibition.

Ten years ago, the first Asia Press Photo Contest, initiated by ANN and organized by China Daily, was held in Beijing — firmly putting the news focus on Asia, Zhu Ling, publisher and editor-in-chief at China Daily, said at the exhibition's opening ceremony.

"During the last decade, China and the rest of Asia have moved forward along their own development paths. This gives photographers more opportunities to capture important and interesting moments," said Zhu. "They use the language of the lens to tell the story of Asian people, depicting a colorful and diverse continent."

Pana Janviroj, executive director of ANN, said Asia and all its virtues, diversity and changes were well captured in this unique photography collection.

"There will never be enough to say about Asia, but the professional photographers and news organizations who participated in the 4th Asia Photo Contest, each bring to the fore a telling dimension under a single frame," he said.

Chen Jie, a 43-year-old photographer from Beijing News, won the gold prize for Spot News with his work in Tianjin last year, of a blast that killed 173 people.

Using a drone camera, Chen captured a bird's-eye view of the huge pit left at the site of the explosions.

"The pit looks like a black hole showing the powerful destructive force of the explosion, but also a black hole of an unanswered question, of why this tragedy happened," said Chen. "Pursuing the truth is the point of photography journalism."

According to ANN, competitors were not only from Asia but also from the United States and the United Kingdom, presenting Asia from different angles.

ANN was established in March 1999 as a network of Asia's national daily newspapers to provide avenues for cooperation and to optimize coverage of major news events in the region. Its members include 22 leading media outlets from 19 Asian countries.