Hot topics dominate the 9th National Journalism Awards (Award A) 2014.

President Truong Tan Sang speaks at the awards ceremony. (Photo: Minh Son/Vietnam+)

Mr. Thuan Huu, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan newspaper, and President of the Vietnam Journalists Association, officially announced the results at the 9th National Journalism Awards Ceremony - 2014, held on the evening of June 21st in Hanoi.

Notably, the 9th National Journalism Awards marked a "bumper year" for individual authors with 2 A prizes, 12 B prizes, 18 C prizes, and 10 Encouragement prizes. Among the 59 works selected for the final round but not awarded prizes, there were also 19 individuals. This is a significantly more impressive number than in previous years.

The most numerous and highest-quality entries in this year's competition focused on themes such as Party building, the struggle to protect maritime sovereignty, economic, agricultural, and rural issues; the fight against corruption and negative practices, and against erroneous, hostile, and subversive views against the Party, State, and regime; overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and floods; and development issues linked to environmental protection…

Author Cao Thi Thuy Giang (VietnamPlus) won the C Prize for the series "Hazardous Medical Waste" - The need to end the loopholes in paperwork management, together with author Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai. (Photo: Minh Son/Vietnam+)

Some award categories showed good quality entries: the print feature and investigative reporting category had more consistent quality; the print news, feature articles, and essays category had richer content, with many articles showing more meticulous preparation; editorials, commentaries, and analytical articles in print saw a decrease in the number of entries but the content was more closely aligned with reality and less academic in nature.

Some award categories still lack quality, such as: Awards for commentary, discussions, and seminars; Awards for television documentaries (television); Awards for news, reports, interviews, seminars, commentary, and essays (radio); and Awards for photojournalism.

According to the organizing committee, this year's Awards Council received 1,468 entries from 62 out of 63 provincial and city Journalists' Associations, 18 out of 19 branch associations, and 37 journalists' branches directly under the Central Committee. Over eight seasons, this is the third consecutive year with the highest number of entries, at around 1,500.

Award A in 9 categories:

1/ The A Prize for print journalism in the category of news, feature articles, and interviews goes to the series of articles "Vietnam affirms its sovereignty with convincing legal evidence" (People's Army Newspaper).

2/ The A Prize for print journalism in the categories of Feature stories, investigative reports, journalistic essays, and notes goes to the series of articles "Reflections from a Hot Spot" (New Energy Newspaper).

3/ The A Prize for Photojournalism goes to the photo group "Successful rescue of 12 workers trapped in the Da Dang hydroelectric tunnel, Lam Dong" (Vietnam News Agency).

4/ The A Prize for Radio Broadcasting in the category of News, Feature Articles, Interviews, Commentary, Essays, Panel Discussions, and Comprehensive Radio Programs goes to the series of articles "Ho Chi Minh's Testament - A Testament about humanity, for humanity" (Voice of Vietnam Radio).

5/ The A Prize for Radio Broadcasting in the category of Feature stories, investigative reports, and radio essays goes to the series of articles "Political and legal propaganda for workers: a race against time" (Dong Nai Provincial Journalists Association).

6/ Award A in Television category for News, Reports, and Documentaries on the topic "Innovating the Party's Leadership Methods - A Look at the New Streamlining of the Personnel and Organizational Structure in Quang Ninh Province," by the Quang Ninh Provincial Journalists' Association.

7. The A Prize in the Television Commentary, Discussion, and Talk Show category went to the work "Historical Memories of 60 Years of the Dien Bien Phu Victory" (Hanoi Television).

8. The A Prize in the Documentary category for Television went to the work "From Heart to Heart" by Ho Chi Minh City Television.

9. The A Prize for online journalism in the category of News, Articles, Reports, Interviews, and Commentary goes to the series of articles "The Story of Sam Lang: Crawling into a plastic bag to… cross the stream" by Tuoi Tre online newspaper.

10. The category of editorials, commentaries, essays, and journalistic short stories in print newspapers does not have a first prize.

11/ The category of investigative reporting, journalistic essays, and online newspaper notes does not have a first prize.

According to VNA