The Center for Research and Sustainable Development Nepal (CREASION) last week conducted the Tree of the Year Nepal (TOYN) award ceremony and photo exhibition at Taragaon Museum, Hyatt Regency. Affiliated to Asian Tree of the Year awards initiated in Sri Lanka in 2016, the second edition of the annual TOYN saw a total of 30 participants, of whom Uddhav Dangal, Mohan Jaishi and Ashin Poudel won the first, second and third place respectively. The winners were selected by the judge panel of Dr Chudamani Joshi, Landscape Ecologist and special advisor to Embassy of Finland, Kath­mandu; Ranjit Acharya, CEO, Prisma Advertising; and Bikash Karki, Presi­dent, Photojournalist club.

TOYN is an initiation of Volun­teer for Change (VFC) program of CREASION, a non-profit, non-gov­ernmental organization. The pho­tographs entries were sent from different districts of Nepal along with their unique stories of trees which emphasized the importance of pro­tection and preservation of Nepali tree biodiversity.

TOYN is a photo competition open to every Nepali citizen. The main focus of this competition is on starting a conversation on the importance of protecting trees and preserving biodiversity.