Photojournalist Narendra Shrestha’s viral photograph of Saptari-resident Dev Kumar Sada giving his eight-year-old nephew, Kamal Sada, a water burial after the Tarai Floods of 2017 left no land to bury the dead has bagged the Photo of the Year prize at the sixth Photojournalist Club Photo Contest and Exhibition 2018. Shrestha and winners in six other categories were awarded at an event held at the Russian Culture Centre here on Thursday.

The annual award is organised by the Photojournalist Club (PJ Club), the umbrella association of Nepali photojournalist. The competition this time around had seven thematic categories—Daily Life, News, Nature and Wildlife, Culture and Tourism, Nepal Smiles, Sports, and Photo Story.

There were more than 13,000 entries this year. A panel comprising Prateek Pradhan, editor of the online news portal Baahrakhari, senior photojournalist Chandra Shekhar Karki, senior photographer Mani Lama, artist Sujan Chitrakar, AFP photo journalist Prakash Mathema, and Indian photographer Pablo Bartholomew judged the photographs.  

While Shrestha bagged both the Photo of the Year, Sunita Dongol won the Daily Life category. Nature and Wildlife’s top prize went to Shree Ram Khatri, while Kiran Shrestha bagged the top honours for the Culture and Tourism category. Likewise, Dipendra Roka won the Nepal Smiles category and Pratik Rayamajhi’s capture of the Everest Marathon trumped the rest in the Sports category. Manish Poudel’s photo story on the different hues and textures of skin won the Photo Story category.

The top three photographs in each of the seven thematic categories were awarded Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000, and Rs 10,000, respectively. For the title award, Global IME Bank Photo of the Year, Shrestha bagged Rs 100,000. He later announced that he would donate Rs70,000 to Kamal Sada’s family and Rs30,000 to the family of the late Kantipur journalist Yadav Thapaliya. The best 160 photographs will be put on display at the Nepal Art Council.