The Ashish Yechury Memorial Award for Photojournalism was won by Sudip Maiti for a series of images titled ‘The hungry river in West Bengal eats up homes overnight’ published in Frontline magazine.

The awards jury was chaired by editor and columnist Rahul Jacob, who was accompanied by independent journalist and author Ammu Joseph, and constitutional lawyer and author Gautam Bhatia.

The award, which comprises a trophy, a citation and INR 100,000/- in prize money, was presented to the winner by the Member, Award Jury, Ammu Joseph at the Convocation of the ACJ Class of 2024.

The jury’s citation read as follows:

Each of the six entries for the Ashish Yechury Memorial Award for Photojournalism shortlisted for the jury to consider was eye-opening in different ways. They also reflected heartwarming concern for fellow citizens, their suffering as well as their resilience.

In the end it was Sudip Maiti’s outstanding photo essay in Frontline magazine, headlined “The hungry river in West Bengal eats up homes overnight,” that was selected for the award this year. The feature uses images and text to tell the story of the devastating impact of the long-standing problem of river erosion on residents of villages located on the banks of the Ganga in the Malda and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal. Maiti’s striking black and white photographs of the stark landscape, of the wreckage of what once were homes, of affected people left to fend for themselves – mainly women, children and senior citizens, and of ineffective interventions by officialdom effectively convey both the desperation of the situation and the way life still, somehow goes on.

The vivid photographs are accompanied by text that not only provides background information about the state of affairs but also highlights the frequently harmful side-effects of development projects that are undertaken with little regard for their impact on human beings and the ecosystem in which they are located.