Agent Orange story wins award

Helping hand: A photo by Truong Ngoc Minh, from the southern province of Binh Thuan, features soldiers helping rescue people in a flooded area. The picture won an A-grade prize from the Viet Nam Association of Photographic Artists.

HA NOI — A story told through photos by Pham Vu Dung won the Gold Cup of the Viet Nam Association of Photographic Artists (VAPA) at a ceremony for the best pix of 2010 yesterday.

Entitled Prime Example, the photos tell the story of Pham The Minh from the northern port city of Hai Phong, an Agent Orange victim. He has overcome many troubles to study and teach English to more than 1,500 students, especially disabled children.

The VAPA selected the photos from 358 entries by 210 photographers. A-grade prizes were awarded to Nguyen Huong Vuong from the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, Lam Thanh Liem from the southern province of Bac Lieu, Truong Ngoc Minh from the southern province of Binh Thuan, Bui Tien Phong from the southern province of Tra Vinh and Pham Thi Thu from HCM City.

The VAPA also grants prizes for pictorial books. The top prizes went to photos of Agent Orange victims depicted in That's the Way They Live by Nguyen A from HCM City, and photos of north Viet Nam during the American War in Memories of the War by Chu Chi Thanh from Ha Noi.

The photos were not only aesthetic, but also depicted humanity and current issues of life, said Vu Quoc Khanh, VAPA president.

VAPA also awarded a gold medal to a photo of a fire-fighter at work in a competition titled Portraits of Today's Vietnamese People. The photo, Silence, was taken by Diep Duc Minh.

The organising board selected 119 of the best photos for a show at Exhibition House at 45 Trang Tien Street, Ha Noi until the end of this month.

The photos will be exhibited in HCM City in March. — VNS

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Award for photos of dioxin victims

HA NOI – A story told through photos by Pham Vu Dung was granted the Gold Cup of the Viet Nam Association of Photographic Artists (VAPA) at a ceremony for the best pix of 2010 this morning.

Entitled Prime Example, the photos tell the story of Pham The Minh from the northern province of Hai Phong, an Agent Orange victim. He has overcome many troubles in life to study and teach English to more than 1,500 students, especially disabled children.

The VAPA selected the photos from 358 entries by 210 photographers. A-grade prizes were awarded to Nguyen Huong Vuong from the Central Highlands province of Dac Lac, Lam Thanh Liem from the southern province of Bac Lieu, Truong Ngoc Minh from the southern province of Binh Thuan, Bui Tien Phong from the southern province of Tra Vinh and Pham Thi Thu from HCM City.

The VAPA also grants prizes for pictorial books. The top prizes went to photos of Agent Orange victims depicted in That's the Way They Live by Nguyen A from HCM City, and photos of north Viet Nam during the American War in Memories of the War by Chu Chi Thanh from Ha Noi.

The photos were not only aesthetic, but also depicted humanity and current issues of life, said Vu Quoc Khanh, VAPA president.

VAPA also awarded a gold medal to a photo of a fire-fighter at work in a competition titled Portraits of Today's Vietnamese People. The photo, Silence, was taken by Diep Duc Minh.

The organising board selected 119 of the best photos for a show at Exhibition House at 45 Trang Tien street, Ha Noi until the end of this month.

The photos will be exhibited in HCM City in March. – VNS

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Province brews up coffee fest

HCM CITY—A coffee festival to be held in Buon Ma Thuot, the capital of Dac Lac in the Central Highlands, will highlight the central role of the crop in the province's and Central Highlands' economy and society.

Y Dham ENuol, Dac Lac's deputy chairman, has told the media that the four-day event starting on March 10 will promote tourism, coffee trade, and investment in the industry as well as the image of his province as a coffee city.

The opening day will be dedicated to thanksgiving for the bean and will feature a lion-dance parade and elephants carrying the coffee symbol.

Trung Nguyen Corp will display the more than 10,000 items to be housed at a World Coffee Museum it plans to build later this year in the province.

An exhibition on the coffee industry that will run through the festival will be attended by 160 companies, both from Viet Nam and overseas, who will display their products, technologies, and services at 500 booths.

There will also be performances by ethnic groups living in Tay Nguyen and art groups from coffee growing nations.

A national record for largest coffee filter will be created on March 11.

Pele, widely considered the King of Football of all time and a citizen of Brazil, the world's largest coffee growing country, will attend the festival. — VNS

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Commemorative bell tower dedicated in Ha Tinh

HA TINH — A bell-tower in Dong Loc T-junction, the central province of Ha Tinh, which is dedicated to 10 young female volunteers who died at the site in the resistance war against the US aggressors was inaugurated on Sunday.

Addressing the function, Politburo member and head of the Party Central Committee Information and Education Commission To Huy Rua praised Ha Tinh Province and the National Political and Administrative Academy for their joint initiative to build the tower.

The Dong Loc T-junction, which played a vital role in the transport of necessities and ammunitions from the north to the south during the American War, is well-known for the story of 10 young female volunteers, all of them were unmarried, who sacrificed their lives to ensure transport on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The construction of the bell tower, which cost VND24 billion ( US$1.2 million) represents people's gratefulness to the sacrifice of the soldiers for national independence.
The seven-floor tower includes a six-tonne bronze bell, which is 3.6m high with a diameter of 1.92m.

Centre receives artefacts from citadel site

HA NOI — Over 200 artefacts excavated from the site of the Thang Long Royal Citadel were transferred yesterday to the Centre for the Preservation of Co Loa and Ha Noi Ancient Citadel, along with storage and display equipment.

Southern province promotes eco-tourism, cultural tourism

CA MAU — Efforts are underway to promote tourism in the nation's southernmost province of Ca Mau, with visitors to enjoy eco-tours in mangrove swamps or discover cultural festivals and customs in the province.

Ca Mau greeted 760,000 tourists in 2010, including 14,600 foreign visitors.

Massive work published on southern resistance

HA NOI — A two-volume History of the Southern Resistance, with contributions from 33 historians, revolutionary leaders and veterans, has been published after after eight years of compilation under a decision from the Party Central Committee and the Government.

The 4,300-page work is divided into two parts, addressing the anti-French resistance war and the anti-US resistance war, and reflects the great contributions of the people in of southern Viet Nam to the victories in both wars.

Architectural heritage being destroyed, warn experts

LAM DONG — Much of the nation's architectural heritage is being destroyed to make way for modern but insensible constructions, said experts at a two-day workshop on cultural tourism and architectural heritage held here on Monday and Tuesday by the HCM City Urban Research and Development Centre and France's University of Aix-Marseille.

Participants in the workshop urged greater harmony between modern and traditional architecture and between cultural values and commercial demands. — VNS

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Denmark supports fine arts education in Viet Nam

HA NOI — Denmark will grant US$700,000 to fund the second stage of a fine arts education in Viet Nam's primary schools during 2011-15, under an agreement signed on Tuesday between the Danish embassy and Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training.

Building upon the success of the first stage of project during 2006-10, the project would contribute to promoting comprehensive education for Vietnamese school children and encouraging new teaching methods in the arts, said Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan at the signing ceremony.

President Ho's palm leaf testament recognised

HA NOI — The testament of President Ho Chi Minh written on palm leaf will be among 30 new Guinness Records for Viet Nam.

The Centre for Viet Nam Guinness Records says the unique display at the Thoai Son District's Cultural and Tourism Complex, southern province of An Giang, will be included in the new listings to be announced on Saturday

Almost 20 of the new listings are for art and culture.

They include musicologist Tran Quang Hai, who is able to create melodies with spoons. The "King of Spoon" plays jazz, pop, techno and flamenco.

Nguyen Vinh Bao, 92, will be recognised as "The Oldest Musician Who Offers the On-line Course on Vietnamese Traditional Music."

The 118-year-old Tran Thi Viet of southern Long An province of Long An will be recognised as "The Oldest Vietnamese Heroic Mother."

Men fail to make up numbers in quan ho love songs

HA NOI — The number of women singing quan ho (love duets) far exceeds the number of men, according to statistics from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in the northern province of Bac Ninh.

Female singers make up 81 per cent of the over 8,000 members of the 598 quan ho clubs in the province, they said.

Quan ho singing is a Vietnamese folk music characterised by its antiphonal nature – with alternating groups of female and male singers issuing musical challenges and responses – and by the fact that most of the songs in the repertoire deal with topics of love and sentimentality as experienced by young adults. The artform was recognised by UNESCO in 2009 as Intangible Cultural Heritage, while Vietnamese authorities are trying various methods to popularise it and train new singers – as well as attract more men to join in.

Writers Association awards prize for historical novel

HA NOI — The novel Hoi The (Oath-Taking Ceremony) by Nguyen Quang Than has been granted the top prize in the Novel Competition of the Viet Nam Writers Association.

The novel reflects the Lam Son uprising against the Chinese domination in the early 15th century which established Le Loi as the first king of the Le dynasty.

The competition, held for the third time, received entries from 245 writers during 2006-09.

The Viet Nam Publishers Association has also granted annual awards since 2005 for books with good design, recognising 77 titles this year. The awards presentation ceremony will take place on Sunday at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Ha Noi. — VNS

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Martial arts documentary wins Italian award

Quang Ngai Province’s Radio – Television on Thursday announced that its sport documentary named Doi vo or Martial Arts Life won the Guirlande D’Honneur 2010 award in the sports individual category at the 2010 Sport Movies and TV competition in Milan, Italy, reports Thanh Nien newspaper.

 Doi vo is a touching documentary about a dedicated martial arts teacher named Ngo Bong, born in Nghia Dien Commune, Tu Nghia  District, Quang Ngai Province who devoted his life to the growth of Hung Ke Quyen (Bravery Cock Fighting Style) a once-famous traditional fighting style originating from Binh Dinh Province.

There were 150 documentaries screening from 50 countries that were judged with 13 winners including feature films, documentaries, cartoons, television programs and advertising films. Some of the winning documentaries came from China, Russia, Uzbekistan and Hungary.

The boxer, Mike Tyson, was awarded with the most prestigious honor recognizing his contributions to boxing and his role in the feature film, “The Hangover”.

All the winning films will be screened from November 15 to 18 in Doha (Qatar), the Federation International Cinema Television Sports (FICTS) said.

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