The Steering Committee for External Information Service, the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education, the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), and relevant agencies launched the ninth National External Information Service Awards on March 29.

The awards aim to honour outstanding authors, works, and publications in the field of external information service and help popularise the country’s development achievements in various areas. The Vietnam News Agency is the standing body of the ninth National External Information Service Awards.

Addressing a press conference in Hanoi, Le Hai Binh, alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education, and Standing Vice Chairman of the Steering Committee for External Information Service, said that first launched in 2014, the Awards have gradually gained a foothold among the national award system.

Reviewing the country’s prominent achievements in some fields in 2022, he stressed that the ninth National External Information Service Awards are launched in the context that the year 2023 is highly important to the implementation of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress.

The Awards should fully reflect the positive and effective contributions of the external information service to the building and consolidation of the people and international friends’ trust in Vietnam, and to the mobilisation of every external resource to be combined with the internal strength to serve the realisation of national development targets in 2023, he noted.

Expressing the VNA’s honour to serve as the standing body of the Awards in 2014, 2018, and 2023, VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang said as the country’s key press agency performing the external information service, the VNA has set up specialised cooperation with over 40 foreign partners, including international news agencies and press organisations.

News provided by the VNA and its partner news agencies has helped with the external information service. Many reporters of those foreign news agencies such as Yonhap (the Republic of Korea), Prensa Latina (Cuba), TASS (Russia), MONTSAME (Mongolia), and the Public Relations Department (PRD) of Thailand have submitted entries and won prizes in the previous Awards, she noted.

As the standing body of this year’s Awards, the VNA is committed to effectively implementing the direction by the Party Central Committee's Commission for Information and Education and learning valuable experiences from previous seasons to continue reforming organisation activities to contribute to the success of the 2023 Awards, the VNA General Director added.

Through eight successful editions, the National External Information Service Awards have affirmed its prestige and quality while creating a space of creativity for Vietnamese and foreigners who engage in the external information service. The Awards have also attracted the strong participation of authors/groups of authors who are overseas Vietnamese and foreigners, many of whom won high prizes for their works/publications.

The ninth Awards are expected to be a highlight of communications in general and the external information service in particular, bringing images of the country, people, culture, and dynamic development of Vietnam to international friends.

The Awards are open to works in Vietnamese and foreign languages in the categories of: print newspaper in Vietnamese; electronic newspaper, website in Vietnamese; print newspaper in foreign languages; electronic newspaper, website in foreign languages; radio broadcasting; television broadcasting; photo (comprising press photo and landscape photo); books; video clips; and initiatives, products with external information values that are posted on mass media outlets or published, distributed, announced, or used in Vietnam or other countries from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.

The address for entry submission is the VNA's Profession Training Centre at Room 301, No 11 Tran Hung Dao street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi; telephone: 024. 39330540; email: [email protected].

The deadline for entry submission is July 31, 2023.

In 2022, amid complex developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organising board of the eighth Awards received 1,172 entries in 14 languages, including about 200 entries in foreign languages and 70 entries by foreigners or overseas Vietnamese.

The eighth Awards Council presented prizes to 112 outstanding entries and reserved the special honour for the “Community of Vietnamese fans in the 31st SEA Games”, who substantially contributed to the success of the largest sporting event of Southeast Asia held in Vietnam and introduce the world a beautiful, safe, friendly, and hospitable Vietnam with rich history and culture.

On the occasion of the launch of the ninth Awards, the VNA introduced a photo collection themed “Heart-melting humanity in quake epicentre Turkey” taken by its reporters in Hatay province, described as a “ghost city” after the historic earthquake in Turkey in February 2023.

Present in Turkey shortly after the disaster, the reporters captured impressive and highly humane images with the hope of transmitting the message: “Disaster is over but human values remains forever” and the trust that people in this country will surmount losses and pain to reconstruct and recover./. VNA