Rozina Islam receives 'bti-The Daily Star Stellar Women Award'

Prothom Alo special correspondent Rozina Islam has been recognised with ‘bti-The Daily Star Stellar Women Award’ for her role in journalism. Meanwhile, founder and chief executive officer of mental health service providing organisation ‘Moner Bondhu’, Tawhida Shiropa received the same award in the ‘social welfare’ category.  

Real estate company Building Technology and Ideas Ltd (bti) and English newspaper The Daily Star jointly conferred the awards yesterday, Sunday. The 'bti-The Daily Star Stellar Women Award’ is being given away since last year to inspire and recognise the work of accomplished women in various fields of the society.

In that continuity, these two women were officially recognised with the awards at bti Celebration Point Pavilion Lounge in Gulshan Sunday.

In that brief ceremony, communication and brand management executive director at bti Ayesha Siddika presented the background for the award. She said that the award was launched in January last year.

They plan to award 12 accomplished women in 12 different fields in 12 months. And they will be recognised in a grand ceremony at the end of the year. To that end, two awards were conferred together on Sunday.

Earlier, Shamsin Ahmed in ‘development’, Tasfia Tasbin in ‘technology’, Nazli Hussain in ‘architecture’, Sadia Jafrin in ‘education’, Ridy Sheikh in ‘culture’, Shamima Akhter in ‘corporate’, Salma Akter Mone in ‘sports’, Sokina Khanom in ‘agriculture’, Monoshita Ayruani in start-up and entrepreneurship and Lutfun Nahar Pinky received the award in ‘creative writing’ category.

Organisers said that these 10 accomplished women along with the two awarded Sunday will be recognised in a grand ceremony on next 7 March.

Handing over the awards to the winners, The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam said, "In our patriarchal society, it is much more difficult for a woman to become accomplished through developing her skills and talent than a man of equal talent. Apart from the social barriers, women have to perform their professional duties after fulfilling their responsibilities towards the family and children. And, it’s very difficult for them.”

“That’s why the initiative has been taken to reward those who have achieved success in their respective fields even amidst this tough condition. Just on one hand this is a recognition of their work, on the other hand it will also be a motivation for the working women in different parts of the country,” he added, thanking bti for coming forward with this initiative.

Bti chief managing director FR Khan said that respecting women is one of the notable values ​​of their organisation. Women usually go about their business in silence but don’t get appropriate recognition or respect. Considering the lacking, this initiative has been taken to recognise the women from all over the country including the capital regularly throughout the year. And, it will continue.

Rozina Islam said that she had to go through a tough situation while performing her professional duties. Receiving this award will motivate her even further to fulfill her professional duties. She thanked the organisers for the recognition.

While on professional duty Rozina Islam faced an attack at the ministry of health on 17 May 2021. She was detained for almost six hours before being arrested under century-old ‘Official Secrets Act’. Later she was released on bail after spending seven days behind bars. Internationally acclaimed for her investigative report on corruption, Rozina Islam is still being harassed over that case.

For her role in the battle against corruption through journalism, US department of states conferred Rozina Islam with ‘Anti-Corruption Champions’ award in 2022. In the year before that, Free Press Unlimited, an organisation based in Netherland’s Amsterdam had given her ‘Free Press Award’ in the most resilient journalist category for her courageous journalism.

At the ceremony awardee Tawhida Shiropa said, “It’s quite tough to work with mental health. Especially in our country, the victims aren’t usually interested in saying anything on this topic.” They are continuing with their work overcoming a lot of obstacles. Receiving this award as a recognition of their work will motivate them, she added.

Among others, chief business officer at The Daily Star Tajdin Hassan also spoke at the award giving ceremony moderated by bti official Humaira Urme.