SEVEN YEARS OF CELEBRATING LIFE
When Celebrating Life was started, I had no idea time would fly by so quickly, I find it hard to believe that Celebrating Life is in its 7th year. When I look back, I still feel like it started last year. It still baffles me as to how we organized a festival/contest of this magnitude. It was a grand event from the get go and whenever it ended, I'd look back and try to figure out where the time went.
In terms of photography in Bangladesh, we remain unmatched in terms of financial rewards and recognition. Another thing to consider is the fact that despite being a newspaper, we make time for this contest, while other organizations who deal directly with photography contests do so in a considerably less grand scale. Another thing in our favour is that we treat all photographers equally which cannot be said for other organizations. This is a proud moment for us and we hope we can make this even better by increasing the financial rewards and making the contest even grander.
As for the lyrics segment, we notice that there is a steady flow of songs out of Bangladesh but most never lingered on. On top of that, the lyricists of our nation remain out of the spotlight entirely, something Celebrating Life is changing with each passing year in terms of recognition. I say this because judging from the state of our country's mainstream music industry, the songs being released are almost never up to the mark, yet they gain recognition. On the other hand, the ones that are truly good in terms of composition, flow and theme, do not. This is where Celebrating Life comes in.
Celebrating Life is made up of three segments, photography, lyrics and film, the third is the only one that saddens me every year. For the last seven years, we always hoped to get more films, but that almost never happens. I remember a time when the youth wanted to be in front of a camera but now it's the exact opposite, everyone wants to be behind the camera. But somehow, we still receive less and less films every year. This could be our fault too, which is why we plan to redesign Celebrating Life entirely for next year to ensure that more people are reached through it by changing the theme next year with more critical thought and research to ensure wider participation and better quality.
The last segment of Celebrating Life is called the Lifetime Achievement Awards. These awards are handed to the unsung heroes of our nation; the ones that make the magic happen behind the curtain. You may have noticed that the 16 we awarded previously have only one or two celebrities. The others who were given the awards were the unknown people who were breakouts in their field but remained out of the spotlight. These are people I cannot thank, but feel pride for, for without them, our country would still be struggling in the darkness.
As a closing note, I would like to congratulate everyone who participated in Celebrating Life, along with the winners and lifetime achievement awardees. Something I would add to the contestants who didn't win; please don't lose hope and use this experience to do better. That is the key to success.
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