Journalist, columnist and writer Syed Badrul Ahsan has recently won the Shah Alamgir Journalism Excellence Award.
Ahsan writes for Dhaka Tribune, The Financial Express, The Business Standard, bdnews24, Observer Research Foundation (Delhi), Open the Magazine (Delhi) and India Narrative.
His writings shed light on the politics of figures including Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
He was born on February 13, 1954. His education began at St Francis Grammar School in Pakistan followed by higher education at Notre Dame College, Dhaka and a master's in English from Dhaka University.
There are two major chapters in his career. One is teaching – he taught English Language and Literature, and History at Green Herald School, Scholastica and Dhaka YMCA and Notre Dame College. He also taught media courses at Dhaka University, Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) and University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).
The second chapter in his life is journalism. He worked at multiple dailies in Bangladesh. This helped him participate in media conferences organized by South Asian Media Association and South Asian Free Media Association in Delhi, Kathmandu, Lahore, Islamabad and Dhaka.
Besides, he also participated in seminars organized by Manohar Parrikar IDSA, New Delhi and Calcutta Research Group, Calcutta and Nibil Chakraborty birth centenary program in Delhi. Several times he was a delegation of journalists invited to Delhi by the government of India.
He also worked in government. Ahsan served as press minister at the Bangladesh High Commission in London.
He is also associated with various other organizations. He is a reviewer of books for the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, Quarterly Journal of London, Asian Affairs: Member of the Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) and Fellow of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICDBS), London and Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.
He also has several publications mainly on history. Among them are “Bidrohi Theke Prothishta: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” “Gourab o Hotasha: Tajuddin Ahmeder Rajniti,” “Amader Shomoyer Itihash Nirmata,” “Bangladesh 1975 Ebong Onnanno Lekha: Nokkhrotrer Alo: Bangalir Gorber Akkhan.”
