The National Book Centre on Thursday awarded 49 students prizes for winning an essay competition on the July uprising.
The winners, from higher secondary to master鈥檚 students, were given a certificate each, a set of books and Tk 500 in prize bonds in a ceremony in the organisation鈥檚 auditorium at Gulistan in Dhaka.
Out of 192 submissions on 鈥楯uly鈥揂ugust Uprising as I See it,鈥� 49 essays by students of 26 colleges were selected.
The centre鈥檚 director Afsana Begum, who handed over the prizes as chief guest, said that most of the participants had reflected on the letter that martyr Shahriar Khan Anas had written to his mother before he was killed on August 5, 2024, when the Awami League government fell and the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India.
鈥楾he students not only shared their experience of the uprising but also suggested how the state could be governed, which amazed us. We want our youths to think of the country鈥檚 future,鈥� she said.
Anas鈥檚 parents Shahriar Khan Palash and Sanjida Khan Deepti attended the event. They called for the rehabilitation of the people injured in the uprising.
Writer Moshahida Sultana Ritu and the centre鈥檚 deputy director Md Farid Uddin Sarkar attended. The centre鈥檚 assistant director Mohammad Enamul Haque conducted the event.