The government has announced names of 21 eminent citizens for awarding prestigious Ekushey Padak, the country’s second highest civilian award, for their contribution in respective fields.

The Cultural Affairs Ministry disclosed the names of the recipients in a press release on Thursday.

The release said this year three persons got the award in the language movement category, three in liberation war, three in language and literature, seven in Shilpakala (art, music and dance) and one

each in journalism, research, education, economics and social service.

Motahar Hossain Talukdar (Motahar Master) (posthumous), Shamsul Haque (posthumous), and Advocate Afsar Uddin Ahmed (posthumous) have been selected for their roles in the Language Movement.

Begum Papia Sarowar won the award for her contributions to music while Raisul Islam Asad and Salma Begum Sujata (Sujata Ajim) for performing art, Ahmed Iqbal Haidar for drama, Syed Salahuddin Zaki for

film, Dr Bhaskar Bandopandhay for recitation and Pavel Rahman for photography.

Golam Hasnayen, Fazlur Rahman Khan Faruk and valiant freedom fighter Syeda Issabela (posthumous) got the award for their contributions to the Liberation War.

Ajay Dasgupta won the award for his contributions to journalism, Prof Dr Samir Kumar Saha for research, Mahfuza Khanam for education, Dr Mirza Abdul Jalil for economics, and Prof Kazi Kamruzzaman for social service.

Kazi Rozy, Bulbul Chowdhury and Golam Murshid are being recognized for their contributions to language and literature.