Bangladesh Press Photo Contest 2023 exhibition ends

The exhibition of the second edition of the annual Bangladesh Press Photo Contest closed its curtains yesterday, on the 8th floor gallery of the capital's DrikPath Bhobon.

Although it is the principal local event in terms of celebrating the practice of photojournalism in the country, on the flip side, the fact that only the second edition of its kind took place, hints at the collective state of treatment and perceived value towards photojournalists in our five-decade-old country.

Living in an age of meticulously crafted fake news, misuse of artificial intelligence and the temptation of many photojournalists for laurels that comes along with being selected in this type of contest, actual photographs still hold the position of the most credible evidence.

Neatly curated by veteran ASM Rezaur Rahman, the exhibition was such that even if there was not a single line of text on the gallery walls, one could still effortlessly relate to the silent yet atmospheric reverberation of the 31 photographs, holding the snippets of stories that matter in present-day Bangladesh—ranging from stories of brutality and a broken system on one end to stories of resistance and jubilance on the other.

This year, the tough task of selecting over 1,500 submissions was done by a jury consisting of photographer, editor, and educator Abir Abdullah; Gitiara Nasreen, Professor of Mass Communication and Journalism, University of Dhaka; renowned cinematographer Rashed Zaman; Tanvi Mishra, Indian editor, curator; and activist-photographer Shahidul Alam.

Furthermore, a Community Grant Programme was introduced, where Paddmini Chakma from Rangamati was selected for the Indigenous Community Grant and Ro Abdullah from Cox's Bazar's Kutupalong camp for the Rohingya Community Grant.