Shariful Rukon, Chief Reporter of Ekushey Patrika, has been awarded the ‘Bangladesh Agro-Industry Media Award’ in recognition of his in-depth investigative journalism on the potential, challenges, and way forward for the country’s agriculture and agro-processing sector. He claimed first place in the Online Newspaper category to receive this honour.
Organised by PRAN Group, one of the country’s leading industrial conglomerates, a total of seven talented journalists were recognised across Print, Television, and Online categories. Among them, the Print category winners were Sukanta Haldar, Staff Reporter of The Daily Star, and Rafiqul Islam and M Munir Hossain of The Daily Sun. The Television category winners were Delwar Hossain Dolon of Channel 24 and Rakib Hossain of Ekattor TV. In the Online category, Shariful Rukon of Ekusheypatrika.com and Nazmul Hossain of Jago News24 were recognised. Notably, Shariful Rukon was the only journalist from outside Dhaka to win this prestigious award.
The ceremony was held on Saturday afternoon in a conference room at the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) at Police Plaza Concord in Gulshan, Dhaka. Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapan attended as chief guest and handed over the crests and prizes to the winners.
Five consecutive investigative reports by Shariful Rukon were published in Ekushey Patrika, presenting the ground-level reality against the government’s vision of earning 25 billion dollars from the agro-processing sector. Published on 31 December 2025, these reports explored why surplus farm produce cannot become raw materials for factories, the billion-dollar market being lost due to packaging failures, the export sector worth thousands of crores sinking under a trust deficit, the reasons behind shuttered shrimp processing factories, the hidden wealth beneath mud and water, and the policy tangles obstructing the 25-billion-dollar dream.
Rukon’s work published in Ekushey Patrika earned widespread praise from jury members and organisers. Jury member and General Manager of Bombay Sweets and Company Limited, Khurshid Ahmed Farhad, praised Rukon’s work effusively. He said that such innovative reporting from a Chattogram-based newspaper could make significant contributions not only to agricultural economics but to the overall economic development of the country. He drew the attention of the minister and senior journalists present at the event, saying that if journalists like him are sought out and nurtured, journalism will advance much further.
Another jury member, Professor Robayat Ferdous of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at the University of Dhaka, also praised the remarkable work of journalists from outside Dhaka. He said that their primary consideration was how deeply a journalist was able to dig into a story.
PRAN-RFL Group’s Marketing Director Kamruzzaman Kamal congratulated the winners and described the reports as highly innovative, creative, and timely. He remarked that the challenges so beautifully highlighted by the journalists would serve as an extremely important document for policymakers and stakeholders in the days ahead.
National Press Club President and special guest Hasan Hafiz highlighted the many limitations under which grassroots journalists work. He called for expanding the reach of such awards to the divisional level in order to further encourage journalists outside Dhaka.
TIB’s Director of Outreach and Communication and jury member Mohammad Touhidul Islam praised the journalists’ work while also raising some constructive criticism. He thanked Information Minister Zahir Uddin Swapan and PRAN Group for creating such a competitive environment, noting that several of the submitted reports were outstanding. However, he criticised the practice of publishing nearly identical reports under different names in different outlets using the same wording and information — though fellow jury member Khurshid Ahmed Farhad clarified that this issue occurred primarily in the print media category.
Sharing his experience of the evaluation process, Mohammad Touhidul Islam pointed to another shortcoming: some reports started very well but lost direction midway and failed to maintain consistency with the main subject through to the end. He noted that the future outlook of the industry and the protection of consumer interests, food safety, and quality standards were the primary criteria for evaluation. He expressed hope that collective experience would lead to better reporting and higher-quality entries in the future.
Rukon’s achievement stands as a strong testament to Ekushey Patrika’s commitment to objective and investigative journalism. Previously, he has also received a fellowship and two consecutive years of the ‘Investigative Journalism Award’ from TIB, the Bangladesh Jewellers Association (BAJUS) Media Award, three consecutive BRAC Migration Media Awards, and Plan International’s ‘Media Award’. In 2023, one of his reports was selected by the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) as one of the best investigative reports from Bangladesh.
