It is inspiring that a few awards have been provided to honour the professionally amateur theatre activists of the country for their outstanding contribution. However, government organisations like Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy discontinued giving awards a long time ago. Only a few theatrical groups like Theatre, Natyachakra and Dhaka Padatik are honouring outstanding theatre practitioners by giving regular awards.

Theatre, a leading theatrical group, provides two awards annuallyMartyr Muneir Chowdhury Award and Zakaria Smrity Padak. The previous one was introduced in 1989 in memoriam of the martyred intellectual during the Liberation War. Muneir Chowdhury is the mentor of many theatre personalities of the country. Moreover, he is the dramatist of the popular play Kabar.

Sponsored by Kabir Chowdhury and Meher Kabir, the Martyr Muneir Chowdhury Award is provided to honour the senior theatre activists or organisations of the country for their lifetime achievement in theatre. Mohammed Zakaria is the first person who bagged the prestigious award in 1989.

The Zakaria Smrity Padak was introduced in 1997 to encourage promising theatre activists of the country. Sponsored by Faruk Haidar, the award is in memoriam of the late pioneering theatre activist Mohammed Zakaria, who has made a tremendous contribution to theatre since 1944. One of his memorable characters is that of a refugee in Nobanno by Bijon Bhattacharya, which was staged in Kolkata in 1944. Moreover, he was the founder member of Bahurupi, a famous theatrical group of Kolkata, which was founded in 1948. In 1972, he joined Theatre and worked for the group until his death.

Ahmed Iqbal Haidar, a theatre actor-director and organiser of Chittagong, is the first person who received the Zakaria Smrity Padak in 1997.