Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) announced the names of the 20 recipients for its prestigious Shilpakala Padak on Monday, in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments and contributions to their respective artistic and cultural mediums.

A total of 20 artists and organisations were unanimously selected (10 out of 12 fields) for the Shilpkala Padak in the years 2021 and 2022 by the evaluation committee formed to review the applications, according to the BSA Shilpkala Padak policy for the final nomination of the deserving artists.

According to the official press statement of BSA, the recipients for the class of 2021 are: - Md Nuruzzaman (instrumental), Sharmin Hossain (dance), Sadi Mohammad (vocal), Biren Shome (fine arts), Professor Abdus Selim (dramatics), Mohammad Nohir Uddin (folklore), Dr Matin Rahman (film), Kazi Madina (recitation), MA Majid (jatra artist), and Jatiya Rabindra Sangeet Sammelan Parishad (creative cultural unit).

The recipients for the class of 2022 are: Foad Nasser (instrumentalist), Saju Ahmed (dance), Elen Mallik (vocal), Professor Alok Rai (fine arts), Khairul Alam Sabuj (dramatics), Sunil Karmakar (folklore), Rafiqul Islam (photography), Mir Barkate Rahman (recitation), Aruna Biswas (jatra artist), and Dr Safiuddin Ahmed (creative cultural researcher).

Subject to the kind permission of the President and formally fixing the date, the Shilpakala Padak awarding ceremony will be organised soon, BSA stated.

Each award recipient will get a gold medal, a cheque for Tk 1 lakh, and a certificate.

The award has been conferred on deserving creative personalities for their continuous contributions in several fields of arts, culture, entertainment, and literature since 2013; however, the award could not be conferred on the recipients in 2019 and the ceremony could not take place in 2020 due to the global pandemic of Covid-19.