Martin Chedondo, Zimbabwe's ambassador to China says this is not only a competition, but also a grand event celebrating China-Africa friendship and cultural diversity. "As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. As the pandemic continues to wreak havoc worldwide, there is no better way to reflect and share our cultural experience and friendship than pictures and videos," he says.

Gao Anming, vice-president and editor-in-chief of China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration says civilization is enriched by exchanges and mutual learning. This contest has opened up a new world for China-Africa exchanges in the context of the epidemic, spanning time, space and distance to record the great China-Africa cultural connection and people-to-people interaction from the perspective of ordinary people. He looks forward to more friends participating in friendly cooperation, continuing to record vivid scenes of China-Africa pragmatic cooperation and friendly exchanges with videos, texts, pictures, and actively sharing new ideas for the development of China-Africa friendly cooperation.

The medical team in which doctor Huang Shiyong stationed is the 16th batch of medical aid team to Botswana from Fujian province. They arrived in the country in September 2020 when the COVID-19 just broke out there, and the team made heroic efforts to save people. Huang says in his award-winning Guarding the Hope, he captured on camera nurse Ye Liwei in the intensive care unit during her night shift. The judges unanimously agreed that the dim night shift environment and the petite and delicate figure of the nurses reflect the spirit of the Sino-African medical team. Fearless of hardships, they are willing to save lives and heal the wounded with boundless love.

The contest is co-sponsored by the Secretariat of the Follow-up Committee of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration. They have actively collected short videos and photo works from various sources, including individuals and cultural institutions. The contest was promoted to more than 40 African countries, and the total number of online views of the entries exceeded 40 million. In the end, more than 2,500 valid works were collected, of which more than 60 percent are from African contestants. The contestants recorded the genuine, close and sincere Sino-African friendship through the lens.