BD shutterbug Touhid tops Wikipedia photo contest

Bangladeshi photographer Touhid Parvez Biplob has secured the top spot in the prestigious international photography contest 'Wiki Loves Earth-2020' facilitated by Wikipedia.

To become the topper, Touhid had to beat nearly 1.5 lakh photographs captured by hundreds of photographers from 34 countries across the world.

The story of success does not end here as another Bangladeshi -- Nawaj Sharif -- has moved into third place in the contest. The seventh and fifteenth positions have also been secured by two other Bangladeshis, Mehedi Hasan and Dipu respectively.  

The second position has been clinched by Italian photographer Luka Castle.

Despite being a businessman by profession, Touhid Parvez Biplob has been engaged in professional photography since 2015.

Expressing joy and happiness to win such a prestigious contest, he said it is a great honour for him and the country as well.

Touhid is the founding president of Bogura Photography Club. Earlier, he received prizes in many international competitions.

Wiki Loves Earth is an annual international photographic competition. Participants take pictures of local natural heritage in their countries and upload them to Wikimedia Commons, a sister project of Wikipedia. In 2020, the contest was held for the 8th time.

In each country, the contest is organised by separate local teams.

This year, the competition was held with participants from 34 countries. The contest ran from May 1 through July 31, with different dates for each country.

Every year participants compete for prizes on the local level (each local team determines its own rewards) and get a chance to win an award on the international level. 

The overall winner gets a fully-funded scholarship to attend Wikimania 2021 or an Amazon voucher for the same value.  Other international-level winners get Amazon vouchers as well.