Hanoi (VNA)𒉰 – Two entries from the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) have won the Excellent Press Award of the East Sea Studies Awards 2018 organised by the Foundation for East Sea Studies (FESS).

The FESS held a ceremony in Hanoi on July 2 to present the East Sea Studies Awards 2018. The event was attended by FESS members, the judges’ council, award winners and the foundation’s sponsors. More than 60 entries vied for the awards, including 32 press works, 29 research articles and three research projects. The entries competing for the press awards were compiled in various forms from e-newspaper, print newspaper and radio broadcast to films sent by 10 press agencies. The entries featured diverse contents in politics, economy, history, education, international relations, international law and information – communications. Most of the entrants were researchers working at different organisations, institutes and universities. Some of them are young reporters from press agencies from Vietnam and other countries like the US, Australia and Germany. At the presentation ceremony, Ambassador Le Cong Phung, former Deputy Foreign Minister and Vice Chairman of the FESS Management Council, said since its launch, the contest has attracted a large number of entries, encouraging scholars and young people to study and keep a close watch on the East Sea. The studying of the East Sea has begun to expand since it comes from the willingness of each Vietnamese person, he said, expressing his hope that the work will be enhanced, and the FESS will assist those who wish to study the East Sea.

[Excellent East Sea research works awarded]

Assessing the entries, Assoc. Prof. Major General Le Van Cuong, former Director of the Ministry of Public Security’s Institute for Strategic Studies and head of the judges’ board, said this year’s entries are comparable to those in previous years, with multi-dimensional and updated information. Entrants expressed their passion for studying the East Sea, reflecting that the East Sea is still an attractive topic to people of all social strata, he noted. Particularly, Cuong was pleased with the participation of young scholars and students from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and other universities. He said all the entries were meticulous, giving many assessments and ideas useful to the Party and State. Congratulating the winners, Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Vu Tung, Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and head of the FESS Management Council, voiced his hope that the foundation will be used to serve communications activities, thus helping safeguard national independence and sovereignty. He said the winning entries should be popularised by being published on many communication publications or entered in other competitions. He asked the FESS to work with relevant agencies and sectors to step up communication about the East Sea and attract more universities’ participation in the contest, which will help consolidate Vietnam’s arguments in its efforts to defend maritime sovereignty and promote peace and stability in the East Sea. Tung said that the Diplomatic Academy will increase training courses on sea and island-related issues for reporters nationwide to provide them with updated knowledge and encourage them to study the East Sea. On behalf of the winners, Le Van Chuong from the Bien Phong (Border Safeguarding) newspaper, the author of the research article “Methods for anchoring ships in shallow waters in Hoang Sa archipelago to cope with storms”, expressed his honour for receiving the award for the third time. He said the research works were meant to contribute to researching efforts and also express love for the fatherland. Chuong added that taking part in the competition was a chance for researchers, experts, journalists, as well as students, to share experience, acquire knowledge and contribute to the defence of the fatherland’s maritime sovereignty. The East Sea Studies Awards 2018 were presented to 14 entries. Among them, five won the Excellent Research Article Award, three won the Particularly Excellent Research Article Award, one won the Excellent Research Project Award and five won the Excellent Press Award. Two entries of the VNA obtained the Excellent Press Award. They were the group of stories “Towards Hoang Sa – Truong Sa” of Nguyen Minh Hang and Nhan Thanh Huyen from the News Department for Foreign Service, and the story “General Hoang Kien and the miracle of bringing land to Truong Sa” of Truong Thi Xuan Phong, Nguyen Viet Ton and Tran Thang from the Tin tuc newspaper. –VNA