The Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday awarded four winners of an essay competition celebrating its 50th founding anniversary. Hun Kim, director general of the Manila-based lender's South Asia department, handed the prizes to the winners at its country resident mission in Dhaka.

Toufikul Islam, a student of electrical and electronic engineering of Dhaka University, won the first prize.

Arefin Mizan, a student of mass communication and journalism at DU, and Tanvir Ahmed, a student of urban and regional planning at Jahangirnagar University, won the second and third prizes respectively.

A special prize was given to Sumaiya Akhter, a student of accounting and information systems at the JU.

The first prize of the competition is $500 while the second prize is $300, the third prize $200, and the special prize $100.

The topic of the essay competition was “Transforming Bangladesh into a Developed Country by 2041: Role of ADB”. A total of 113 students participated in the competition.

“I am pleased to see wide participation in the competition. This reflects the youths' interests in ADB operations in Bangladesh,” said Kim in a statement.

“I look forward to further enhancing our deep and productive partnership with Bangladesh as we work together for the country's future development.”