Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has handed over Bangla Academy Literary Award 2023 to 16 recipients in 11 categories for their outstanding contribution to various fields of literature.

She distributed the award among the winners at the opening ceremony of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair on Thursday (Feb 1).

The winners are-Shamim Azad (poetry), Nuruddin Jahangir and Salma Bani (fiction), Zulfikar Matin (essay/research), Saleha Chowdhury (translation), Mrittika Chakma and Masud Pathik (drama), Tapankar Chakraborty (children's literature), Afroza Parvin and Asaduzzaman Asad (Liberation War-based research), Saifullah Mahmud Dulal and Md Mujibur Rahman (studies on Bangabandhu), Enam Ul Haque (science/science fiction/environmental science), Ishaq Khan (biography/reminiscences/travelogue), and Tapan Bagchi and Sumankumar Das (folklore).

Among these, fiction, drama, folklore, and Liberation War and Bangabandhu categories were awarded jointly.

Bangla Academy had earlier announced the names of the 16 distinguished individuals for its Sahitya Puroshkar (literary awards) 2023.

Widely acknowledged as the country's leading ornithologist, Enam Ul Haque, founder of the Bangladesh Bird Club, was recognised for championing environment and science-related education and awareness.

He is also the chairman of WildTeam, which is known for groundbreaking interventions in tiger conservation in the Sundarbans.

Some of his most important books are Ruposhi Banglar Pakhi (2021), Bengoma Bengomir Moto Koto Pakhi (2018), Field Guide to the Birds of Bangladesh (2015), and Feathered Splendors (2013).