Women's football team, Avro keyboard creator, 13 others to be awarded Ekushey Padak
The nominees also include human rights activist Shahidul Alam, journalist Mahmudur Rahman and poet Helal Hafiz (posthumous)

The government will award the Ekushey Padak, the second-highest civilian award in Bangladesh, to 15 individuals and organisations, including the national women's football team and Avro keyboard creator Mehdi Hasan Khan.
The Ministry of Cultural Affairs published a list of nominees for the award today (6 February).
The other nominees are:
- Bangladesh women's national football team in the sports category
- Mehdi Hasan Khan in science and technology
- Azizur Rahman (posthumously) in the film category
- Ustad Nirad Baran Barua (posthumously) and Ferdous Ara in the music category
- Nasir Ali Mamun in photography
- Rokeya Sultana (posthumously) in painting
- Mahfuz Ullah (posthumous) in journalism
- Mahmudur Rahman in journalism and human rights
- Dr. Shahidul Alam in culture and education
- Dr. Niaz Zaman in education
- Mohammad Yusuf Chowdhury (posthumous) in social welfare
- Helal Hafiz (posthumous) and Shahidul Zahir (Md Shahidul Haque) (posthumous) in language and literature
- Moidul Hasan in research