Shefali Rafiq and Muhammad Amdad Hossain: Winners of the Marai Photo Grant 2025 Announced
Following a three-year hiatus, the “Marai Photo Award” returns in 2025 with a new identity: the “Marai Photo Grant”. This year’s theme, “My Reality. Now.”, spotlights one of the most pressing issues of our time — climate change.
The jury, chaired by Mladen Antonov, AFP’s Asia-Pacific Photo Editor-in-Chief, carefully reviewed dozens of submissions from photographers across South Asia. The winners of the 4th edition are:
Women’s Category
- Winner: Shefali Rafiq
- Finalist: Supriya Bhandari
Men’s Category
- Winner: Muhammad Amdad Hossain
- Finalist: Luqmaan Zeerak
The two winners will receive a grant and the opportunity to develop their proposed project, with mentorship from an AFP photographer. Their final work will be published by AFP.
An awards ceremony will be held on 14 May 2025 at the AFP bureau in New Delhi, where all four laureates will be presented with Nikon equipment and a certificate.
Organised by AFP, the grant honours Shah Marai, former chief photographer at AFP’s Kabul bureau, who was tragically killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul on 30 April 2018, at the age of 41. A vital witness to the tragedies that struck Afghanistan, he left a lasting legacy through his talent and dedication. In a piece for Making-of, AFP’s behind-the-scenes blog, he described the extreme dangers of reporting from his homeland.
Further details are available on the grant’s official website.