The panel of judges appointed to decide the winner are senior photographer Gopal Chitrakar, Chairman of PJ Club Chandra Shekhar Karki, Editor and Publisher of Himal Media Kunda Dixit, Editor-in-Chief of Nagarik Dainik Narayan Wagle and Landscape Photographer Jagdish Tiwari.[break]
Welcoming the participants, Sandeep Shilpakar said, “Photo Journalist Club was opened in 2004 to represent the country in international fora through photo journalism. Since its inception, the club has been organizing various programs.”
The main sponsor of the event is Mega Bank and the competition is being supported by Ubox.
To enable applicants to submit their forms online, the online submission was also launched by CEO of Mega Bank, Anil Shah.
“Mega Bank is proud to be a part of this program and we want to encourage people to take up photography and enhance their skills,” said Shah, adding, “This is a start of partnership between Mega Bank and Photo Journalist Club and we hope this partnership and the program will continue to flourish for many more years to come and grow bigger every time,” shared Shah.
Expressing his passion for photography, Shah further said, “The kind of natural beauty and subjects that a photographer wants are evidently found in Nepal.
From abundant wildlife to man-made temples, the lightning that can be seen during sunrise and sunset, all such things can hardly be found together in other places.”
He further added, “They say a picture is worth a thousand words but in a country like Nepal where literacy level is low, a picture is worth a lakh words. Photo journalism thus plays an integral role here.”
He further explained, be that Nepali youth, amateur photographers or the professional ones, photography should be a part of everyone’s lives. “The competition is open to all so that everyone can grab the opportunity. We also hope that other corporate houses will also help promote such photography competitions.”
He explained that the judges’ decision will be transparent, professional and unbiased.
Speaking on the same occasion, Chandra Shekhar Karki, chairman of PJ Club, explained the assessment method. “First, there will be a pre-judging round where photographs will be selected and then the final judgment will follow.”
He further said that the judgment will last for three days and the field experts who have understood the aesthetic value of photography will also be judging as guest judges.
Meanwhile, explaining the submission rules, Bijay Gajmer said, “There will be no entry fee. The participant must be a Nepali citizen and the submitted photographs must have been taken in Nepal and should be the photographer’s original work.”
Participants may enter a single photo or a maximum of three photos in each category and can participate in all categories. In total, a participant may enter a maximum of 12 photographs (not including the photo story). Entries exceeding the permissible limits will be disqualified and only the first three entries will be accepted.
For photo story, a participant may enter up to two stories. Each story should have a minimum of two photographs and a maximum of twelve photos. The content of the image must not be altered. Only retouching, which conforms to currently accepted standards in the industry, is allowed.
The jury is the ultimate judge of these standards and may request the original, un-retouched file as recorded by the camera or an un-toned scan of the negative or slide.
All images should be in digital files. Pictures taken in other formats should be scanned, and the digital formats should be submitted.
The dimension of the photo must be 2000 pixel (the wider side), 300 dpi and a maximum file size of 500 kb. Each file should be renamed with the participant names followed by an underscore, category name and sequence number.
The five categories are tourism photo (promoting Nepal), nature and wildlife, daily life, news photo and photo story.
The Photo of the Year will win prizes worth Rs 100,000, including cash. Each category will have three winners.
The first prize is worth Rs 30,000, including cash. Second prize is worth Rs 20,000, including cash and the third prize is worth Rs 10,000, including cash.
Participants may enter the online submission by logging on to www.pjclub.com.np.
Participants can also submit the photos in CD/DVD to various centres in different parts of the country as mentioned in the website.
The submission deadline for the photographs is May 1 for collection centers and May 4 for online.
Related story
Reconstruction of 4,067 quake-damaged schools yet to begin
