Prothom Alo wins two international awards

Prothom Alo has won two awards in two categories at the South Asian Digital Media Awards. The awards were presented on Thursday, the second day of the two-day Digital Media India 2026 conference in New Delhi. Leading digital media organisations from across South Asia took part in the event. Organised by WAN-IFRA South Asia, the conference saw Prothom Alo receive one gold and one silver award.

WAN-IFRA is the world's leading organisation for news publishers and media entrepreneurs, representing more than 3,000 news publishing companies and entrepreneurs across over 120 countries. On 30 April, it announced the winners of 36 awards across 12 categories, selected from more than 100 news organisations in South Asia. The awards were formally presented to representatives of the winning organisations on Thursday.

The awards were presented by WAN-IFRA Chief Executive Officer Stig Ørskov, Chief Operating Officer Thomas Jacob, Manorama Online CEO Mariam Mammen Mathew, and WAN-IFRA South Asia Managing Director Magdoom Mohamed.

Accepting the awards on behalf of Prothom Alo were Executive Editor Sajjad Sharif, Chief Business Officer of Prothom Alo Digital Jabed Sultan, Business Development Lead and Assistant General Manager Ruhul Amin, Assistant General Manager for Digital Technology Muzahid-Ul Islam, and SEO and Analytics Manager Mazharul Haq.

Prothom Alo won gold for the way this leading Bangladeshi news organisation recovered after a premeditated, coordinated terrorist attack and arson at its office by extremists, while continuing to report the incident to its readers and viewers. The award came in the Best Marketing Campaign for a News Brand category of the WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards South Asia 2026 for its campaign titled ‘HHH: Heads Held High’.

The newspaper also received a silver award in the Best Use of Video category for its documentary ‘The Highway of Death: Jatrabari Killings’, which investigates the killings carried out by law enforcement agencies in Jatrabari, Dhaka, during the July mass uprising.

This year marked the ninth edition of the WAN-IFRA awards. The Hindu Group emerged as South Asia's top winner with the highest number of awards.

The campaign was launched following the attack and arson at the Prothom Alo office on 18 December last year. Through news reports, articles, videos and other coverage, it documented the attack, the destruction caused by the assailants, and Prothom Alo’s unwavering commitment to reporting the truth despite the violence.

Built around the message “Truth Cannot Be Burned”, the campaign conveyed this resolve through a wide range of initiatives. The story was extensively covered across the newspaper, its online platform and social media using articles, photographs and videos. The spontaneous participation and solidarity of readers and viewers gave the campaign added strength, depth and reach.

Prothom Alo received Silver in the Best Use of Video category for the investigative documentary ‘The Highway of Death: Jatrabari Killings’, produced by its senior content creator Abdullah Al Hossain.

On 5 August 2024, the final day of the mass uprising, law enforcement forces carried out killings and brutal violence on civilians near Jatrabari police station along the Dhaka–Chattogram highway, one of the capital’s major entry points. The documentary details how 60 unarmed people were killed within seven hours along a one-kilometre stretch of the highway.

In this category, The Daily Star won gold award for the video project, while it also won Silver in the Most Innovative Digital Product category.

In the same category, another Bangladeshi news outlet, The Daily Star, won gold for its documentary ‘Anatomy of BGB Shooting in Rampura’. The English-language newspaper also secured silver in the Most Innovative Digital Product category for ‘Kiron: Accelerating Career, Redefining Media’, a technology-driven education and skills development platform.

Over the years, Prothom Alo has won a total of 11 awards, including two golds, at the WAN-IFRA South Asian awards. It has also received 11 awards, including two first prizes and recognition as South Asia's Best, at the INMA Global Media Awards, organised by the International News Media Association (INMA), which represents more than 1,000 news organisations across over 100 countries.