Salma Aktar - Celebrating Life 2018 1st Prize Winner - Lyrics Contest

I'm having a hard time expressing my excitement at winning this award. I am very grateful to The Daily Star and Standard Chartered for this. They have given not only me, but anyone that writes, takes photos or makes films the medium to showcase our abilities. I never expected to be placed 1st in this competition. As there were a lot of submissions, I did not expect much. Even before my name was announced, I still could not imagine that I had won the competition. This is not only an achievement; this has also taught me a lot. To write songs on this topic, I had to study a lot for this. I did not know if I would win, but I had to learn a lot. Lyrics are not only passion anymore; it is like an addiction for me now. Whatever I feel, be it happy or sad I express it with my writings. Whenever someone says that my writings describe how they feel, it makes me very proud. I wrote a lot for this competition. But, when it was time to submit, I submitted two different versions, as I felt that if the first one had some defects. I would have been more satisfied if I could have submitted 3 songs. There is always a thought that works within when you write something like this. You think about your country, nature, people you respect and especially purity. Purity is one of the most important things a person can have, be it in words, actions or even passions. I hope to hold this purity till my last breath. The topic given was a little hard. No one would ever think that you can write a song about architectural structures. You might write poems about this, but writing songs about this is almost unimaginable. I had to research a lot on the internet, and then I spent a lot of time looking up structures I can use in my song. And, since I am a Bangladeshi, I had to write about structures that are related to my culture. This helped me learn a lot about Bangladeshi culture, which I consider another huge achievement. I am planning on writing a lot more lyrics in the future. Please pray for me everyone.