Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy announced the names of 20 recipients for its prestigious Shilpakala Padak 2019 and 2020 Saturday.

Eighteen cultural luminaries and two cultural organisations will receive the award, said the academy.

The award has been conferred to creative personalities for their continuous contributions to arts, culture, entertainment and literature since 2013.

However, the award was not conferred in 2019 and the ceremony could not take place in 2020 due to the ongoing global pandemic.

The recipients of the 2019 award are Mohammad Moniruzzaman (instrumental - flute), Lubna Marium (dance), Hasina Momtaz (vocal), Abdul Mannan (fine arts), Masud Ali Khan (dramatics), M A Taher (photography), Shamvu Acharaya (folklore), Hasan Arif (recitation), Anupam Hayat (film) and cultural institution Chhayanaut (creative cultural unit).

For 2020, the selected cultural personalities are Shamsur Rahman (instrumental - shehnai), Shibli Mohammad (dance), Mahmudur Rahman Benu (vocal), Shahid Kabir (fine arts), Malay Bhowmick (dramatics), Shafiqul Islam Swapan (photography), Shah Alam Sarkar (folklore), Dahlia Ahmed (recitation), Shameem Akhtar (film) and Dinajpur Nattya Samity (creative cultural unit).

The awards will be handed over to the recipients at a ceremony later at the academy in the capital's Segunbagicha.

Each recipient will get a gold medal, a cheque of Tk1 lakh, and a certificate.