National External Information Service Awards 2015 calls for submissions Pursuant to Regulations on the National External Information Service Awards (as found in Decision 2914/BTGTW dated December 14, 2015), the Organisation Council for the second National External Information Service Awards in 2015 calls for submissions from central and local media agencies, domestic and foreign journalists for considerations. Submissions must satisfy the following criteria: I. General content regulations: Journalism products may be in Vietnamese or a foreign language, and must target overseas Vietnamese or foreign readers and audiences. Submissions must have been published in mass media outlets licensed by authorised Vietnamese agencies or foreign media from January 1 to December 31, 2015. Works must be accurate, persuasive, influential nationally and internationally, and positively appreciated by public opinion. Submitted articles must contribute to Vietnam’s external information service, specifically: - Promote a positive image of the country, culture, history, and people, as well as domestic realities and achievements during the process of reform, national construction, and defence, and portray a nation of peace, stability, development, potential, and active international integration. - Provide accurate, timely and in-depth information of the Party’s policies, law, and the Vietnamese stance on regional and international issues; gaining support from the international community for Vietnam and creating favourable conditions for the national defence and construction cause. - Counter fabricated and distorted information about Vietnam, especially about critical, sensitive and emerging issues drawing domestic and international attention, including those related to national sovereignty of sea and islands, national borders, ethnic minorities, religion, democracy, and human rights, aptly guiding public opinion and minimising negative impacts from inaccurate information and false allegations. - Helping foreigners and the overseas Vietnamese community develop an in-depth understanding of the contemporary Vietnam, mobilise the support of the Vietnamese community abroad and foreigners to strengthen cooperation and friendship between Vietnam and other countries, ultimately contributing to the sustainable development of the country. II- Entry regulations Contest entities include: printed newspaper, radio broadcasting, television broadcasting, online newspaper, and press photo as follows: 1. Printed newspaper awards will be given for: - Breaking news, news features, and interviews - Editorials, commentaries, and analysis articles - Reporting, investigative reporting, and personal narratives Entries must be an article, series of reports (with no more than five components), a story, or a story series (with no more than five instalments) by the same writer or group of writers about the same event or topic. A series of unrelated news articles or stories published at different points in time are not eligible. Entries written in foreign languages do not need to be translated into Vietnamese. 2. Radio broadcasting awards will be given for: - Breaking news, news features, and interviews (no longer than five minutes) - Editorials and opinions (no longer than eight minutes) - Reportage, commentaries, research spots (no longer than eight minutes), investigative reports, talk shows, personal narratives, and general broadcasts (no longer than 60 minutes) Entries must be individuals or a series of news or stories about one topic, one event or one subject broadcast over one or multiple instalments. It must have clear sound quality, characters’ voices, noise, and music. 3. Television broadcasting awards will be given for: - News, reports of less than 15 minutes, and personal narratives of less than 30 minutes - Commentaries, talk shows, and special subjects of less than 120 minutes - Documentaries of less than 60 minutes Footage, sound of entries must satisfy quality requirements. Entries produced in foreign languages must be accompanied with Vietnamese subtitles. 4. Online newspaper awards will be given for: - News, news features, interviews, commentaries - Reporting, investigative reporting, and personal narratives Entries must be created initially and exclusively for online newspapers. Entries republished from print newspapers are not eligible. Online news entries, including multi-media entries, must carry the characteristics of online newspaper. Entries must be a news article, a series of articles (with no more than five components), a story, or a series (of no more than five instalments) in the form of text, audio, photo or multimedia by the same writer or group of writers about the same event or topic. A series of unrelated news articles or stories published at different points in time are not eligible. Entries written in foreign languages do not need to be translated into Vietnamese. 5. Press photo awards will be given for: Single photos, groups of photos, and photo reporting Photo collections may be submitted with no more than 10 photos, published in the same newspaper issue or around the same time period for online newspapers. Manipulated photos and landscape photos are not eligible. III. Authorship Regulations Submission may be made by individuals or a group of persons living in or outside the country. Submissions that have received other awards at other competitions may still enter in the National Foreign Relations News Award 2015, but information on the prize type and the competition’s organising board and time frame must be included in the submission dossier. Submissions with concerns over copyright infringement will not be considered. IV. Prizes The National External Information Service Awards 2015 offers five sets of prizes for the five categories of print media, radio and television broadcast, electronic media, and photography. Each category consists of first, second, third and fourth prizes. The jury will also consider awarding commendations. The award ceremony will be held on May 2016. V. Winners’ interests a) The first prize consists of - A National External Information Service Award trophy - A certificate from the organising board - Cash prize b) The second, third and fourth prizes include - A certificate from the organising board - Cash prize VI. Entry dossier regulations  1. For the author of entry: Full name, pen name, current title, working place, mobile phone number and email are required. 2. For the entry: - Each entry must include a summary in Vietnamese language which should highlight the main contain, the context of the story, and audience response. Print and electric media should be submitted in clearly printed copies. If the entry includes pieces of paper, these must be pasted on A4 or A3 with page numbers and attached with two photocopies. For TV entries: the work must be written on video compact disc (VCD), digital video disc (DVD) or universal serial bus (USB) with the name of the agency, author and type of work, airing time, and any voice-overs in the piece. For broadcast entries: the work must be written on compact disc (CD), with the name of the agency, author, the duration of the piece, time of broadcast, and a copy of the transcript. For press photographs: Along with copies of the newspaper or magazine article including the submitted photos, enlarged versions of the photos on photographic paper sized 18cm x 24cm (single photo) and 12cm x 18 cm (group of photos or photo reportage). - Entries will be disqualified if they fail to meet any of the requirements stated in this notice. - The organisation board will not return contest entries. VII. The chair of the 2015 competition: Vietnam Television will chair the second National External Information Service Awards 2015. The contest is open to press agencies, ministries, sectors and localities, and representative agencies of Vietnam abroad, Vietnam ’s friendship organisations, foreigners and overseas Vietnamese. Contest entries should be sent prior to March 31, 2016. Please send entries to: VTV Office Address: 43 Nguyễn Chí Thanh Street, Ba Đình, Hanoi (Submission for 2015 National External Information Service Contest) Tel: 04- 3831 5426; 04-38344216 Email: giaithuongthongtindoingoai2015@ vtv.vn Mobile phone : 0913508259 ( contact person Trần Phúc Trung).-VNA