The UNB management has recognised the good performance of its Khulna Correspondent Sheikh Deedarul Alam in bringing interesting stories from the grassroots to the forefront.

He was awarded particularly for his recent exclusive video story which drew huge views.

Thousands of viewers reacted to the story which is about an Australian citizen -- Malcolm Arnold-- who has been staying in Khulna for the last 18 years after getting married with a Bangladesh woman he fell in love with.

Alongside the video story in Bengali version, it was also run in English version under the title of 'For an Australian in Khulna, home is where his heart was won.'

Malcolm Arnold left his home at Adelaide in Australia for Khulna in 2004, within three years of falling in love with a Bangladeshi NGO worker Halima Begum in 2001.

The 74-year old Australian has always lived selling his painting works before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Receiving the gift, Deedarul Alam expressed his gratitude to the UNB management saying that he was delighted for the recognition.

"I've been with UNB since the early 1990s. I received the gift on the very first day of the new year of 2022. It'll encourage me to work on in the future," he said.

Founded in 1988, UNB is the first fully digitalised wire service in South Asia and is the principal partner in news exchange with AP, one of the world's largest wire services.

Currently, UNB has News Exchange Agreements with 37 countries in the world, including PTI of India, Xinhua of China, Kyodo of Japan, Bernama of Malaysia, AsiaNet, Yonhap of South Korea, ITAR-TASS News Agency of Russia, FAAPA of Africa, CAN of Cyprus, Moroccan News Agency (MAP), Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) and Emirates News Agency (WAM) of the UAE to name a few.