The Steering Committee on External Information Work, the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education, and the Vietnam Television (VTV) launched the National External Information Service Awards 2019 at a press conference on November 27.

At the press conference 

Addressing the press conference, Bui Truong Giang, deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education and standing deputy head of the Steering Committee on External Information Work, said Vietnam has reaped many important achievements in 2019.

The country has also made remarkable contributions to international affairs, such as joining peace-keeping activities of the UN, dispatching its Level 2 field hospital to the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, hosting the second US-Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Summit, and being elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021 with 192 out of the total 193 votes.

“Those achievements testify to the open external policy of Vietnam, and prove that Vietnam is a reliable friend and partner in the international community… At the same time, they are also a rich source of information and inspiration for press works serving the external information service,” Giang said.  

He noted that after five years of launching, the National External Information Service Awards have received increasing attention and response from both domestic and foreign journalists and authors.

Submissions can be in any language and must be published in the forms of an article of printed newspaper, online newspaper and website (licensed by competent agencies), radio broadcast, television broadcast, press photo, landscape photo or book. They must have been broadcast via licensed mass media in Vietnam or in a foreign country from January 1 to December 31, 2019. The awards will be announced and presented in June 2020.

Entries must be sent to the Standing Agency of the National External Information Service Awards 2019 before March 31, 2020.

In 2018, the organising board received 1,000 entries in forms ranging from print newspaper articles, online articles, radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, press photos, landscape photos and books. The works were published in 13 languages (Vietnamese, English, French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Indonesian, Khmer, Lao, Mongolian).  The organising board awarded 90 works, with eight first prizes, 17 second, 25 third and 40 consolation prizes presented.