Mumbai: Popular songwriter Javed Akhtar has been awarded the Richard Dawkins Award 2020. As such, he says that having my name in this list with recipients like comedian Bill Mehr and philosopher Christopher Hitchens is like a dream he had not even seen. The award has been presented since 2003, and is named after the British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. Akhtar has received this honour for critical thinking, religious dogma, for investigating human progress and humanitarian values.

To this, Akhtar said, "I am honoured to receive the Richard Dawkins Award 2020. I have been a fan of Richard Dawkins's first book 'The Selfish Gene'. Since then I have read all his books and 'The God Delusion' has been my favourite book."

He went on to say, "People like Bill Mehr and Christopher Hitchens have received this honour, so adding my name to this list is like a dream I never thought to seen."

(With IANS Input)