Meet SEJ member Shamsuddin Illius! Shamsuddin is an award-winning Climate and Environmental journalist based in Chittagong, Bangladesh. He has been working at The Business Standard (TBS) as the Chittagong Bureau Chief since 2019. He also works as a stringer for Agence France-Presse (AFP). Before joining TBS, he was Chief of the Chittagong Bureau at The Independent, another leading English newspaper in Bangladesh. His stories have appeared in The Independent, The Business Standard, AgenceFrance-Presse (AFP), The Third Pole, The Scotsman, Unbias The News and more. He is a 2022 fellow of the World Press Institute. One of his stories, which was published at The Third Pole, got an honorable mention in the 2022 Covering Climate Now Awards. He is a fellow of The Sinking Cities Project’s cross-border investigation in 2022, with six journalists from different countries, which examined how sea level rise is affecting major cities and how the governments are responding to the consequences of the climate crisis. He won the 2023 Climate Journalism Award jointly for The Sinking Cities Project by The European Journalism Centre.
Shamsuddin covered the COP26 from the ground in Glasgow in 2021 as a CCMP Fellow. He is also a story grant fellow of the Earth Journalism Network, reporting on Zoonotic Diseases and One Health in the Asia-Pacific Region in 2021, Biodiversity in 2020 and Climate Change Adaptation in the Bay of Bengal in 2019. He is one of the fellows of the 2018 Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) Journalism Fellowship and an Alumni of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reporting on migration. As a field journalist, Shamsuddin frequently travels to the remote coastal areas of Bangladesh to cover the people who are living on these remote islands, including their livelihood, health and education.
When asked if he recommends SEJ membership, Shamsuddin said, “Yes, this is a platform for journalists by journalists! For getting mentorship and staying connected with a group of professionals and experts. I definitely recommend it to colleagues.” Join us — apply for SEJ membership.
Check out some of Shamsuddin's work:
- "CHT Forests Being Razed for Cassava Farming, Harming Biodiversity," The Business Standard, April 20, 2024.
- "COP28 Adopted a Loss & Damage Fund But When Will Countries Get Compensation?" The Business Standard, December 9, 2023.
- "Dhaka: A Refuge that Needs to be Rescued," Unbias the News, October 2022.
- "Halda’s Sorrow From Climate Change, Human Action," The Business Standard, July 14, 2021.
- "As Sea Threatens To Devour Chattogram," The Business Standard, October 1, 2020.
- "Gone With Shifting Tides — How Climate Change Is Wiping Out Coastal Professions, Lifestyle," The Business Standard, September 6, 2019.
Find Shamsuddin:
Facebook /sillius
LinkedIn @shamsuddin-illius-a00b67139
Web shamsuddinillius.com
X @illiusbd
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