BTWA Travel Awards 2025 honor Bangladesh’s creative travel talents
Bangladesh Travel Writers Association hosted the Creative Development Through Travel Awards 2025 in Dhaka, recognizing excellence in travel literature, photography, and creative content creation.
They organized the “Creative Development Through Travel Awards 2025” at Bishwa Sahitya Kendra on May 9, recognizing outstanding contributions to travel literature, travel photography, and creative travel content in Bangladesh.
The BTWA Travel Awards 2025 brought together travel writers, media personalities, researchers, and tourism professionals in a colorful ceremony aimed at encouraging quality travel journalism and creative storytelling.
A three-member judging panel supervised the award evaluation process to ensure transparency, credibility, and high standards in Bangladesh’s growing travel content industry.
The three judges for this year’s awards were: Mohammad. Ashraf Uz Zaman, Founder and President of Bangladesh Travel Writers Association; Md. Jahangir Alam, Secretary General of BTWA and Founder of Noakhali Pedia; and Shakil Bin Mustak, Executive Committee Member and media personality.
The three judges jointly carried out the responsibility of evaluating travel literature, research quality, creativity, and content standards.
As chief judge Mohammad Ashraf Uz Zaman was in the United States during the event, he delivered a video message emphasizing the importance of recognizing talented individuals during their lifetime.
“In many cases, talented people receive recognition only after death. We believe creative work should be evaluated and honored while the creators are still alive,” he said.
Speaking at the event, Md. Jahangir Alam Shovon said the BTWA awards process extended beyond regular submissions.
“We officially announced the call for entries last year. At the same time, we reviewed nearly 1,200 Bangla travel literature books preserved in our archive over the years. From there, we selected recent and high-quality travel books and creative works for consideration,” he said.
He added that although many outstanding works were reviewed, not all could be included in this year’s awards due to limitations. He expressed hope that more travel writers and creators would receive recognition in future editions of the BTWA Travel Awards.
According to him, the evaluation process also created an opportunity to assess and preserve Bangladesh’s long-term travel literature archive, which would further enrich the country’s travel writing culture.
Shakil Bin Mustak said the initiative would inspire the younger generation to produce more research-based, informative, and creative travel content.
The programme was chaired by Mohiuddin Helal, who described travel as a powerful medium that connects people with culture, heritage, history, nature, and humanity.
Special guests included KM Harun, AHM Shafiquzzaman, Shakur Majid, Ahsan Habib, and Ziaul Haque. They shared travel experiences and praised the initiative for promoting travel literature and tourism-related creative content in Bangladesh.
The event was hosted by Shakil Bin Mustak and Fuad Bin Omar. Among those present were Zakaria Mondol, Anisul Kabir, Homayed Ishak Mun, and Ziaul Kabir Bappe, alongside executive committee members, tourism professionals, and distinguished guests from Bangladesh’s travel and tourism sector.
