Blogger Rafida Bonna Ahmed, wife of slain author Avijit Roy, has won one of Deutsche Welle’s “The Bobs – Best of Online Activism 2015” awards.
According to a press release by Deutsche Welle, Bonna won the award for continuing the work of her husband on “Mukto-Mona Blog,” which was run by Avijit.
Avijit was brutally murdered by fanatics on February 27, during a trip to Bangladesh with his wife. Both Avijit and Bonna are naturalised US citizens, and were here because two of Avijit’s books were published in this year’s book fair.
Bonna won the title in the “Social Changes” category, according to a press release issued by Deutsche Welle on Sunday.
“The Social Change category is designed to honour a project that effectively promotes social issues by using technologies like innovative apps or a detailed explanation of topics of critical importance in order to have a positive influence on the world,” the release read.
“An international jury representing 14 of the world's language regions met in Berlin to decide on the winners by evaluating websites and projects from around the world,” the press release read.
Following a day of discussions and debate, Bonna, along with a community security platform in Mexico and a Syrian-Palestinian videogame were chosen as the final recipients of the Jury Awards 2015.
The Bobs awards were initiated by Deutsche Welle in 2004 to “stimulate and enrich public discussion of freedom of expression using online media.”
This year’s competition received over 4,800 applications, of which 112 were shortlisted by the 14-member international jury.
Bonna, along with the other winners, will be invited to participate in the award ceremony on June 23 as part of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany.
