Recognising those behind the lens

Some photographs document history. Others preserve grief, resilience, and everyday realities that might otherwise fade with time.

Bringing together many of those defining moments from 2025, Drik Picture Library yesterday opened the fifth edition of Bangladesh Press Photo Exhibition 2026 at DrikPath Bhaban in Panthapath. At the event, the winners of this year’s Bangladesh Press Photo Competition were also announced.

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The competition invited photojournalists from across the country to submit photographs taken in 2025. A total of 202 photographers from media organisations nationwide submitted around 1,600 photographs covering politics, public interest, the economy, society, arts and culture, wildlife and nature, and documentary storytelling.

From these, 32 photographs were selected for the exhibition, offering a visual chronicle of a year marked by political upheaval, human tragedy and resilience.

The entries were judged by Buddhojyoti Chakma of Prothom Alo, documentary filmmaker Dina Hossain, AFP photojournalist Munir Uz Zaman, and photographer and Drik founder Shahidul Alam.

The inauguration also featured a discussion on the evolving role of photojournalists and the challenges they continue to face.

Shahidul Alam said photojournalists still do not receive the recognition they deserve within many news organisations.

“Photographers in newspapers and mass media are not given much importance and remain at the very bottom of that structure,” he said.

“To my knowledge, there isn’t a single newspaper in Bangladesh that truly has a picture desk with trained photo editors.”

He said photographs often generate the highest engagement on digital platforms, yet those who produce them are rarely given equal importance.

“Photojournalists are often the ones taking the greatest risks on the front lines,” he added.

Speaking as special guest, Kamal Ahmed, consulting editor of The Daily Star, said photojournalism has undergone a remarkable transformation during his four decades in journalism.

“When I began my career, photojournalists were often confined to the darkroom. In many newspaper offices, they did not even have their own desks,” he said.

“Today, almost every newspaper, particularly those with online operations, has a dedicated photography department.”

He attributed the change to the rise of multimedia journalism, where photographs have become indispensable to news coverage.

While welcoming the growing importance of photojournalism, Kamal Ahmed said journalists’ safety remains a major concern.

“We still have not established institutional, governmental or private mechanisms to ensure journalists’ safety and security. We have made very little progress in this regard,” he said.

Among the 202 participants, Sazid Hossain, deputy head of photography at Prothom Alo, won the Picture of the Year 2025 award for his photograph of grief-stricken relatives searching for loved ones after the deadly chemical warehouse fire in Mirpur’s Shiyalbari on October 14, 2025.

Other winners included Mazharul Islam of Times of Bangladesh in Public Interest Journalism and Politics category, while Mahmud Zaman of the same newspaper received an honourable mention. Tanvin Tamim of Daily Sun won the Arts, Culture and Sports category, and Abdul Goni of The Daily Ittefaq (currently with Daily Waadaa) received an honourable mention.

The Picture of the Year winner received Tk 100,000, while category winners received Tk 50,000 each. Honourable mention recipients received Tk 10,000, along with crests and certificates.

Drik also announced the Indigenous Community Grant 2026. Indigenous photographer Mong Hai Shing Marma from Bandarban will receive financial support, year-long mentorship and an opportunity to exhibit his work at next year’s Bangladesh Press Photo Exhibition. This year’s exhibition also features the work of Jajong Nokrek, recipient of the 2025 grant.

The exhibition will remain open from August 1 to August 12.