Online Desk : The prestigious Ekushey Padak 2021 will be handed over on Saturday at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will join the programme virtually from her official residence Gonobhaban.

This year, 21 distinguished citizens of the country have been nominated for outstanding contributions in their respective fields.

Motahar Hossain Talukder (posthumous), Shamsul Haque (posthumous) and Afsar Uddin Ahmed (posthumous) won the award in the field of Language Movement, while Begum Papia Sarwar has been picked for Music, Raisul Islam Asad and Salma Begum Sujata (Sujata Azim) for acting, Ahmed Iqbal Haidar for play, Syed Salahuddin Zaki for film, Dr Vaswar Banarjee for recitation, and Pavel Rahman for photography.

Besides, Golam Hasnayen, Fazlur Rahman Khan Faruk, Freedom Fighter Syeda Isabela (posthumous) have been chosen under the category of Liberation War.

Ajay Das Gupta won the prize in the field of journalism, Dr Samir Kumar Saha in research, Begum Mahfuza Khanam in education, Dr Mirza Abdul Jalil in economics, and Professor Kazi Kamruzzamn in social service.

Under the language and literature category, Poet Kazi Rozy, Bulbul Chowdhury and Golam Murshid won the award.