BRAC Bank–Samakal honours eight writers at literary awards

Professor Serajul Islam Choudhury and novelist Selina Hossain received lifetime achievement honours at the BRAC Bank�"Daily Samakal Literary Awards, which also recognised six writers across three categories.

The press release said the awards were announced at a ceremony at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka on Friday, says a press release. 

BRAC Bank Bank and Daily Samakal jointly honour writers to promote Bangla literature and encourage literary pursuits. They introduced the "Lifetime Achievement Award" to recognise veteran authors for their significant contributions to Bangla literature.

For the 2024 awards, Abul Ahsan Choudhury won in the essay, autobiography, travel and translation category for "Vidyasagar, Bankimchandra, Rabindranath and Musolman Samaj".

Anwara Syed Haq won in the poetry and novel category for "Shomoy Bohiya Gelo", while Nizam Biswas received the Young Writer Award for "Jolmakorer Noukabaich".

For the 2025 awards, Nasreen Jahan won in the essay, autobiography, travel and translation category for "Paloker Chinhogulo".

Shaheen Akhtar won in the poetry and novel category for "Manchitra", while Mahbub Mayukh Rishad received the Young Writer Award for "Cyanide Phool".

Economist Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud, an adviser to the interim government, addressed the ceremony as the chief guest.

Others present included AK Azad, managing director of Times Media Limited; Faruq Mayeenuddin Ahmed, vice chairperson of Brac Bank; Syed Abdul Momen, additional managing director and head of SME banking at BRAC Bank; and Shahed Mohammad Ali, editor of Daily Samakal. Writers and other prominent personalities were also invited and attended.

Each lifetime achievement honouree received Tk5 lakh. Winners in the essay, autobiography, travel, and translation categories, as well as the poetry and novel categories, received Tk3 lakh each. Each Young Writer Award recipient received Tk2 lakh.

The winners also received crests and citations.

A total of 460 books were submitted for the 2024 awards and 510 for the 2025 awards, across the three categories.

A jury comprising Begum Akhtar Kamal, Faizul Latif Chowdhury, Abid Anwar and Khalikuzzaman Elias selected the winning books published in the respective years.