KATHMANDU: 'Beautiful Nepal, Happy Nepalis' photo competition -- under the parameters of ‘art photography’, organised by the Nepal Academy of Fine Arts, Naxal, Kathmandu in coordination with the Department of Architecture and Other Creative Arts -- featured some of the fine examples of art through photography.

In the competition, a photograph of people painting a house before Dashain in Palpa taken by Mithun Kunwar, also of Palpa, was ranked first.

Likewise, Prabin Shrestha’s snapshot of a mesmerised girl in her ‘bel bivaha’ attire taken in Bhaktapur received the second ranking. The third place was taken by Daya Sagar KC’s picture of a craftsman carving wood in Patan Durbar Square area and the consolation prize was awarded to photojournalist Skanda Gautam’s photo of a gumba pictured against a misty sky.

The young winners expressed their happiness and were gratified to receive the honour. Kunwar, Shrestha, Sagar, and Gautam have bagged prizes of Rs 40,000, Rs 25,000, Rs 15,000, and Rs 10,000 respectively.

Photojournalist Gautam conveyed that he felt extremely happy to receive this honour from respectable photographer Mani Lama, and vice-chancellor of the Academy, veteran photojournalist Gopal Chitrakar.

A total of 221 photographers took part in the competition from across the country, sending around 1,000 photographs for the competition. Among all the photographs collected in the competition, 70 were put on display at an exhibition organised by the Academy on Friday.