‘Important to acknowledge contribution of regional photojournalists’

CHENNAI: One of the awards dedicated to photojournalism in India, the CPB Photo Awards, organised by the Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation is back with its third edition this year. This time around it has made efforts to increase the awards and be more inclusive. The CPB Photo Awards were established in 2019 to recognise the underrepresented and under-recognised work of photojournalists, press photographers and documentary photographers across the country.

Participants can send their entries on the organisation’s website and submit their entries via the application online. The six categories of the awards are - News and Current Affairs, Climate Change, Environment and Conservation, The Emami Award for Regional Photographers, The Srishti Award for Documentary Projects, The Danish Siddiqui Award for Photo of the Year, and the Photo Story of the Year Award.

Part of the jury is Netherlands-based lead curator of World Press Photo, Amanda Maddox, Delhi-based independent photojournalist Saumya Khandelwal, and Kashmir-based independent photojournalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Dar Yasin.

Amanda Maddox

Speaking to DT Next, Shuchi Kapoor, co-founder of Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation, says, “For these awards, we look at collaborating with professional and experienced photojournalists/photo editors/photo educators who have been in the field for many years. We also look at the perspectives the jurors might bring to the jury panel. In this edition, we are excited to have the support of World Press Photo for the jury.”

Saumya Khandelwal

She says, “In this edition, the Foundation is ensuring there is participation from tier-two and tier-three cities through our Regional Connect Programme. We identified photojournalists, and photography mentors from Guwahati, Lucknow, Kolhapur, Bundelkhand and Visakhapatnam to reach out to their respective local communities to share information on the Awards.

“Khabar Lahariya and Chambal Media - news organisations run by women in Bundelkhand, have a wonderful team of reporters, and photo and video journalists. It is very important to acknowledge their contribution to the field while also celebrating their work. We see many entries from metropolitan cities and the onus lies on us to ensure more regional and vernacular participation.”

Talking about how photojournalism has changed through the years, she says, “Photography in Europe is not limited to news, it is a form of art. However, in India, the affiliation has primarily been with news until the last decade. Smartphone photography and citizen reporting via social media have changed the way news is being consumed. It has also become increasingly important to discern what kind of images we are putting out there and to be conscious of the veracity and context of imagery we are coming across on these multiple platforms.”

Commenting on what she is looking forward to from the awards, she exclaims, “To seeing more female photojournalists participate and win! It’s high time we work towards this gender gap. We are hoping that this edition encourages more photojournalists from tier two and tier three cities to participate in future editions.”

The CPB Photo Awards is made possible with the support of Sid Khanna, Emami Art, Nazar Foundation and Srishti Digilife. The deadline for submission is February 15.

For more details visit https://chennaiphotobiennale.foundation/cpbx/projects/cpbphotoawards/cpb-photo-awards---edition-iii.