Notre Dame University Bangladesh English Club (NDUBEC), in collaboration with United Nations Development Programs (UNDP) organised a day-long creative exhibition and award ceremony entitled ‘Nizoder Anti-dandruff Shampoo presents NDUB Environment Vanguard Award 2019’ on Friday at Notre Dame University Bangladesh (NDUB) premises to raise public awareness on environment and climate change and to engage youth in environmental protection and development activities.
Professor Dr Fr Patrick Daniel Gaffney, CSC, vice chancellor, NDUB; Dr Fr Leonard Shankar Rozario, CSC, deputy registrar, NDUB; Dr Br Leo J Pereira, CSC, deputy controller of examinations, NDUB; Ahsan Rony, founder and president of Green Savers Association; Farzana Ahmed Julie, national consultant, UNDP; Morshed Mishu, international cartoonist were present as special guests at the event.
In this inter college-university competition, participants around the country competed in three categories: Photo-Story, Visual Poetry, and Short Film. Prominent photographer Hasan Chandan was the jury for Photo Story category. Bishwajit Goswami, faculty of the Department of Fine Arts, was the jury for Visual Poetry category. Fatema Amin, faculty of the Department of Film and Television, Jagannath University was the jury for short-film category.
The event started at 11am with flag hoisting after which Professor Dr Fr Patrick D Gaffney, CSC inaugurated at the event. NDUB English Club Moderator Habiba Akter welcomed the participants and guests and shared “there can be no alternative of green revolution.”
The next session was a workshop on photo-art by Radi Shafiq, visual artist, entitled ‘Keep Creating: Standing Apart with your Photo Art’, where he elaborately discussed the process of photography and fine arts. The third session was dance recital by Jannat E Nur and Athai Clara Gregory where a dance act was performed on Greta Thunberg’s speeches.
The fourth session was conducted by renowned photo storyteller Hasan Chandan where he discussed about the making of photography into stories.
The fifth session aimed at engaging the audience into nature where the session was entitled ‘Pottery-Play’. In this session, participants could paint potteries in the field to unfold their creative visions.
After the lunch and prayer break, a recital performance and talk session was held by Ahmed Tahsin Shams, lecturer in the department of English at NDUB which was entitled ‘Eco- conscious versus Ego-conscious approach in Liberal Arts’. He gave a theoretical lecture on the connection of aesthetics and ecology. He also shared how ‘human voices’ oppresses ‘non-human voices’ by engaging the participants in creative writing.
After screening and exhibiting all the nominated photo story, visual poetry, and short films, the final session was award giving ceremony where 21 young environmental vanguards are appreciated with certificates. In the Photo Story category, Alex Romario (‘For Next Generation’), Morad Ahammad (‘Threats on the Rise’), and Tomal Samad (‘Stars without Names’) are receiving grants of USD 3000 Dollars (2.5 lac taka) as a team to complete an UNDP photo story project in the coastal belt of Bangladesh on the effect of climate change upon the inhabitants.
In the Short Film Category, the Champion team of Fuaduzzaman Fuad (‘Salvation of Oxygen’) is receiving USD 3000 Dollars (2.5 lac taka) to complete an UNDP short-film project in the coastal belt of Bangladesh on the effect of climate change upon the inhabitants.
Moreover, Short Film Runners-up team ‘The Makerz’ received BDT 20,000 cash prize money, crests and an opportunity to work with Avant-garde Productions.
Visual Poetry Champion and Runners-up received BDT 10,000 and BDT 6000 respectively, crests and opportunity to work with Ars Poetica, an international online channel of Visual Poetry.