Twenty-four distinguished personalities will receive Ekushey Padak, the country's second-highest civilian award, this year for their contributions to various fields.
Actor Afzal Hossain, dancer Zinat Batkatullah, late actor Khaled Khan, poet Kamal Chowdhury, are among the award recipients, a Cultural Affairs Ministry handout said on Thursday.
BSS adds: The release said this year two persons got the award in the Language Movement category, four in the Liberation War, seven in Shilpakala (art, music and dance), two in Social Service, two in Language and Literature, four in Research and one each in journalism, Science and Technology, and education.
Mostafa MA Matin (posthumous) and Mirza Tofazzal Hossain Mukul (posthumous) won the award in the field of Language Movement.
Valiant freedom fighter Alhaj Principal Md Matiur Rahman, Syed Moazzem Ali (posthumous), QABM Rahman and Amzad Ali Khandaker have been nominated under the category of Liberation War.
Jinat Barkatullah has been nominated for dance; Nazrul Islam Babu (posthumous), Iqbal Ahmed and Mahmudur Rahman Benu for music; Khaled Mahmud Khan (posthumous), Afzal Hossain and Masum Aziz for acting.
MA Malek won the award for journalism while Md Anawar Hossain won in science and technology and Professor Dr Gautam Buddha Das won in education.
SM Abraham Lincoln and Sangharaj Gyanshree Mahather have been nominated in the social service category.
Poet Kamal Chowdhury and Jharna Das Purkayastha won the award in language and literature category.
Dr Md Abdus Sattar Mandal, Dr Md Enamul Haque (team leader), Dr Shahanaz Sultana (team) and Dr Jannatul Ferdous (team) have been nominated under the research category.
RMM/SU