The CPB Photo Awards

With its roots in war photography, photojournalism has come a long way to encompass a variety of issues, events and causes that shape the world. It is perhaps the pinnacle of photography for its ability to inform and institute change. In recognition of this, the CPB Photo Awards was instituted in 2019, providing a platform for photographers from across India to submit difficult and complex visual stories that shape the country. The second edition of the awards was made possible with the generosity of Sidhant Khanna from Srishti Digilife India as well as Nazar Foundation.

This year, the awards honoured seven photographers in three categories–News and Current Affairs, Climate Change and Conservation, and Social Documentary. The winning entries were selected by an esteemed panel of jurors that comprised Smita Sharma, photojournalist and documentary photographer; Prashant Panjiar, photojournalist; Tanvi Mishra, photo editor, curator, educator; Showkat Nanda, documentary photographer and educator; and Selvaprakash Lakshmanan, editorial photographer. “Photojournalism has a powerful way of establishing credibility at a time when choreographed and manipulated images are leading public opinion. However, shrinking editorial budgets, job insecurities, and safety concerns have dealt a huge blow to covering such socially-relevant stories. Sensitising people about these issues is extremely important given the times, and photojournalists, like always, need to put their best foot forward. Recognising and celebrating photojournalists and their stories is very important at this time,”Selvaprakash Lakshmanan commented.

The Danish Siddique Award for Photo of the Year was bagged by Kunal Patil, while Zishaan A Latif won the Photo Story of the Year and the Photo Story: News and Current Affairs category. Harsha Vadlamani took away the award in the Single Image: News and Current Affairs category. The award for the Single Image: Climate Change and Conservation and Photo Story: Climate Change and Conservation was bagged by Arun Sharma and Siddharth Behl respectively, while Richa Chandru Bhavanam and Sagnik Datta won in the Social Documentary category.

The Danish Siddiqui Award for Photo of the Year