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Published : 20 Oct 2015, 10:31 PM
He was the second best in 2014 but shot up to the first place this year with his report published on bdnews24.com.
The report – ‘Stop torturing children in the name of examination’ – that fetched him the top award this year was published on Sep 27, 2014.
Hossain received Tk 50,000 in prize money, a certificate and a crest at the awards ceremony held at the Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, Unicef’s National Goodwill Ambassadors magician Jewel Aich and actress Arifa Zaman Moushumi, Deputy Representative of Unicef Bangladesh Louise Mvono conferred the awards.
As many as 45 were awarded in two age categories for creative writing and journalism in print, TV and the radio media.
Monir Hossain had been adjudged second in the under-18 print category for his report on neglected street children, ‘Ke Phirabe?’, published on Bangladesh's first-ever specialised children's news service, hello.bdnews24.com on Oct 15, 2013.
But he was considered the best in the same category this year.
Hello, the world’s first dedicated Bangla news website for children journalists, is the result of a joint initiative between Bangladesh’s first internet newspaper bdnews24.com and Unicef
Monir Hossain’s story, ‘Porikkhar hall e atanka’, published on Dainik Sylheter Dak, was also nominated in the creative writing category.
A higher secondary student of Sylhet Government College, he started contributing to Hello when he was a 10th-grader.
While receiving the award on stage he was asked about the tests he faced in life, and his candid answer was that he had fared well in each of them.
But tests in classes, coaching centres, and several public examinations - which he described as a ‘torture’ in his story - were destroying childhoods, he added.
Hossain, who secured GPA-5 from the Sylhet Border Guard Public School in 2014, said he had made his writing debut at Hello.
He has been contributing to national and local dailies alongside reporting for the website.
He said he opted to study science because of his family’s wish that he became a doctor.
He would prefer to study mass communication and journalism at the Dhaka University if he failed to enrol at any public medical college.
The Hello journalist also said he would not quit writing even if he were to study medicine.
His elder brother Shahab Uddin said their father would have been happy about Hossain’s achievements had he been alive.
bdnews24.com Editor-in-chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi took time to reflect on Mornir Hossain’s achievement.
“I am delighted that he has made it again,” he said. “It only speaks of the level of motivation Monir and other children we have trained have.”
“Monir winning this prestigious award will surely inspire hundreds of others who are part of hello.bdnews24.com,” he added.
