The first time I came to the Valley, I had to constantly tell people of my nationality! People would decide upon my nationality by gauging the colour of my skin and by the accent of my speech.”

“The state denies a citizenship certificate from one’s own mother’s name.” 

The above lines are adapted from the video entries that contestants submitted to the recently-concludedKo Nepali video and photography competition. Organised by Code for Nepal, a US-based organisation, the contest was announced in March with the theme: “What it is to be a Nepali in 21st century?”

“The one thing that this competition helped establish is how elusive the concept of a ‘true’ Nepali can be,” organisers asserted in a statement announcing the winners on Wednesday.

Among the submissions, a select 20 were sent for adjudication to a panel of judges that included author Manjushree Thapa, journalist Anup Kaphle, curator Nayan Tara Kakshapati, blogger Lex Limbu, and writer Shiwani Neupane.

On the video front, Pukar Rai bagged the top honours with Saurav Rajbhandari and Mohan Khanal coming in second and third respectively. Rai walked away with a cash purse of Rs 25,000. Likewise, Monika Jha won the photography competition with Unmid Dhakal and Subarna Tandukar coming in second and third place. Jha bagged Rs 10,000 for her photograph.

The organisers had sought out videos and photographs—in Nepali, Bhojpuri, Maithali, Tamang or English—that would depict the Nepali diversity. The event saw a total of 150 submissions.