The Jury
The photographs qualified for the Photo competition are judged by a team of a jury comprised of senior photojournalists and photographers of Nepal and an internationally recognized photojournalist. The jury team is composed of six members chaired by the Senior photojournalist Jewel Samad, AFP’s Photo Chief for South Asia. Other jury members are senior photographer Mani Lama, senior photojournalist Bikas Rauniar, senior writer, columnist, documentary and filmmaker Shekhar Kharel, Director of the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (Kimff) Ramyata Limbu and Agency France Presse (AFP) photojournalist and Immediate past president of PJ Club Prakash Mathema. The submitted photos are reviewed by the jury on the screen in the first round after which 100 photos are chosen for the second round. In the third round, the jury shortlists 10-23 photographs for the final round out of which 25 of them are selected as winners in different categories.
Jewel Samad, Jury-Chair
Mr. Jewel Samad is a Bangladeshi-American photojournalist working for the international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) since 2000. Mr. Samad has covered events around the world from war in Afghanistan and Iraq, natural disasters and major sports, including World Cup soccer, cricket, Olympics, and entertainment events like Oscars, Fashion Weeks, Grammy awards. He also covered events in White House, while based in Washington, DC for seven years.
Mr. Samad is currently based in New Delhi, India, as AFP’s Photo Chief for South Asia.
Ramyata Limbu, Jury Member
Ms. Ramyata Limbu is the Director of the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (Kimff) which she founded in 2000 with like-minded media colleagues. She has over 25 years of cumulative experience working as a journalist, communicator, and researcher working with the community, national and international organizations. She has co-directed and co-produced several award-winning feature documentaries, including “Daughters of Everest” which followed the first team of all women, Nepali Sherpa climbers to ascend Everest, “The Sari Soldiers” about the conflict in Nepal told through the stories of six women, and, "Drawing The Tiger", an intimate portrait of the price a family pays to educate their daughter. She is currently with Panos South Asia, a media development organization that encourages and facilitates public discourse and debate on a wide range of issues.
Mani Lama, Jury Member
Mr. Mani Lama is a renowned photographer in Nepal. He has spent over 30 years capturing life through the lens, mainly for development organizations such as the UN and its agencies. A freelance photographer based in Kathmandu is one of the pioneer photographers. He teaches photography and runs workshops for aspiring photographers. Author of Nepal: The Himalayan Kingdom (1996), Lama’s career as an award-winning photographer span over three decades.
Bikas Rauniar, Jury Member
Mr. Bikas Rauniar is a prominent Nepali photojournalist. He has worked as the photo-editor at HYPERLINK "http://kantipur.ekantipur.com/" \t "_blank"Kantipur Publications for 22 years. His photographs were featured in international publications such as the New York Times, LA Times, Sunday Times, Outlook, India Today among others. Rauniar also served as the Chairman for the HYPERLINK "http://www.nfpj.org.np/" \t "_blank"National Forum of Photo-Journalists (NFPJ) in 2007-08. Rauniar was also the jury member in photography contests organized by OHCHR, UNDP, WCN.
Shekhar Kharel, Jury Member
Shekhar Kharel (b.1970) is a writer, columnist, documentary filmmaker and photographer based in Kathmandu. He is a columnist for Himal Khabarpatrika. Kharel holds a master's degree in English literature from Tribhuwan University, Nepal and post-graduate diploma from the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom. He has worked at Nepal Tourism Board, BBC Nepali Service (UK), Kantipur Publications, among others. He is the recipient of the First Prize in the nationwide photography competition to mark Nepal's first-ever national tourism campaign 'Visit Nepal 1998'. He had his solo exhibition of photographs titled 'Samyak Drishti' held at Siddharth Art Gallery, Kathmandu in 2004. He has directed over dozen documentary films on various topics, most noticeably 'Kathmandu Odyssey' screened at Film South Asia in 2003 and 'Rainbow over Mumbai' (2012). His interest involves the promotion of Nepali music and restoration of old architectural buildings and conservation of heritage.
Prakash Mathema, Jury Member
Prakash Mathema is the leading and award-winning photojournalist in Nepal. He is currently associated with the AFP news agency. He has more than a decade of experience in photojournalism and has worked for the leading publication house such as Kantipur and Rajdhani newspapers. He also served as a jury member of Nepal Photo Contest 2073 B.S, 2074 B.S., and 2075 B.S. He is also the Immediate Past President of the Photojournalist’s Club Nepal.