Hanoi (VNA) – On June 7, 2019, the Party Central Committee’s Information andEducation Commission and the Central Steering Committee for ExternalInformation Service coordinated with the Vietnam News Agency and relevantparties to organise a presentation ceremony of the National ExternalInformation Service Awards 2018.

The event was attended by Nguyen Xuan Phuc –Politburo member and Prime Minister; Vo Van Thuong – Politburo member,Secretary of the Party Central Committee, head of the Party Central Committee’sInformation and Education Commission and head of the Central Steering Committeefor External Information Service; and many leaders of central agencies, ministriesand sectors, along with representatives of news, press and publishing agencies,and winners.

The organising board selected 90 excellent works to honour at thepresentation ceremony of the National External Information Service Awards 2018,comprising eight first prizes, 17 second prizes, 25 third prizes and 40consolation prizes.

The Awards 2018 attractednearly 1,000 entries made in 13 languages in eight categories, namely (1) printnewspaper in Vietnamese; (2) e-newspaper in Vietnamese; (3) print newspaper inforeign languages; (4) e-newspaper in foreign languages; (5) radio; (6) television;(7) photos and (8) books.Entrants and groups of entrants came from more than130 central and local press agencies and 12 publishing houses nationwide. Theyalso included foreign experts and reporters and overseas Vietnamese.

According to the organisingboard, the entries were of high quality with diverse topics and contents, andtouched upon all aspects of the external information work, updating people inVietnam, foreigners and overseas Vietnamese on the country’s major political-diplomaticevents, outstanding international cooperation activities in 2018, and images ofthe beautiful and hospitable country of Vietnam. Many entries covered uniquetopics and were compiled in a creative manner that applied advanced e-newspapertechnology and multimedia forms. A number of articles were published inprestigious foreign magazines, helping foreign friends and the overseasVietnamese community better understand the Vietnamese Party and State’sviewpoints and foreign policy.

Aside from high-qualityentries of central press agencies like the Vietnam News Agency, the VietnamTelevision, the radio The Voice of Vietnam, the Nhan dan newspaper and the Quandoi Nhan dan newspaper, the quality of entries of sectoral and local press andpublishing agencies was also improved, reflecting external activities andspecial identities of localities. Particularly, the Awards also attractednearly 30 entrants and groups of entrants who are foreigners and overseasVietnamese such as Yuri A. Denisovich – a correspondent of the Russian news agencyTASS in Vietnam, Youngkyu Min – a reporter of the Yonhap News Agency of theRepublic of Korea, Sh. Bathold and D. Sainbayar – correspondents of the Mongoliannews agency in Vietnam, Cuban journalists Mariela Valenzuela Pérez and AlbertoSalazar, and Chairman of the India-Vietnam Solidarity Committee Geetesh Sharma.

Outstanding prize-winningworks included “Dua hang nong san ra the gioi” (Bringing agricultural productsto the world) and “Ton giao dong hanh cung dan toc” (Religions a companion tothe nation) in the print newspaper category; “Ho hy sinh cho nuoc ban hoi sinh”(They devoted their lives for the friend country to revive) and “Bo doi Cu Hotrong su menh gin giu hoa binh cua Lien hop quoc” (Uncle Ho’s soldiers in theUnited Nations peacekeeping mission) in e-newspaper; “Viet Nam chuyen minh dekhong de lo con tau 4.0” (Vietnam makes changes to not miss the 4.0 train) inradio; “Ngay tro ve: Coi nguon thuong nho” (The returning day: Source of love)in television; “Suc manh doan ket va tinh huu nghi Viet Nam-Cuba” (TheVietnam-Cuba solidarity and friendship) in photos; and “Ha Noi tren duong phat trien”(Hanoi on the development path) in the books category.

Addressing the ceremony,Politburo member and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc applauded the success ofthe National External Information Service Awards 2018 and congratulated the winners,while complimenting the organising board on its active and effective contributions.

He stressed that 2019 is a yearof breakthroughs to fulfill the five-year plan for 2016-2020 and also for thewhole Party, army and people to celebrate many major events. Meanwhile, theglobal and regional situation continues to change unpredictably. That has createdboth favourable conditions and challenges to the external information work.

External information agenciesneed to focus on improving their awareness of the role and importance of theexternal information service; reform communication content and forms; activelypromote the connection between the Party, State’s diplomacy and that of the people,and between internal and external information services so as to bring into playthe comprehensive strength of the country during the international cooperationand integration; facilitate writers, reporters and editors of press andpublishing agencies to gain experience and create many high-quality externalinformation works; diversify communication methods and documents, in which moreattention should be paid to the use of foreign languages, cooperation with bignews agencies and press outlets in the world, as well as the use of modernmeans of media and social networks that have wide coverage, to step upcommunications about Vietnam’s images along with its responsibility and effortsat regional and international forums; and introduce the country, people,cultural traditions, investment potential and tourism of Vietnam to foreignfriends and overseas Vietnamese, the Prime Minister said.

This is the fifth time theNational External Information Service Awards have been held and the second timethe Vietnam News Agency has acted as the standing agency of the Awards sincethe first edition in 2014. Other rotary standing agencies are the VietnamTelevision, the radio The Voice of Vietnam and the Nhan dannewspaper.-VNA