Book on Vietnamese sovereignty wins National Book Awards

This year, two works were awarded the A Prizes including the book series Hello Vietnamese by Nguyen Thuy Anh (Vietnam Education Publishing House) and the work Scientific Basis for Determining the Outer Boundary of the Vietnamese Mainland according to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea by Bui Cong Que (Chief Editor), Phung Van Phach, Do Huy Cuong, Tran Tuan Dung, Le Duc Anh (Natural Science and Technology Publishing House).

The 6th National Book Awards Ceremony took place at the Hanoi Opera House this week. The organizing committee also awarded 10 B prizes, 11 C prizes, and 18 consolation prizes.

A season of innovation

The two A Prize winners received the highest praise from the jury members and independent reviewers.

Two Prize A winners at the 6th National Book Awards. Photo: Ngo Minh/The Hanoi Times

The book "Scientific Basis for Determining the Outer Boundary of the Vietnamese Mainland according to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea" is a monograph compiling the results of some investigations and research works on Vietnamese waters and sovereignty over the past 20 years.
For the first time, there is a book that provides an updated and modern scientific basis per international standards and is linked to an official national formula for determining Vietnam's boundary following the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Thus, the work would serve as a manual for marine and island management, resource exploitation, environmental protection, and security and defense in Vietnamese waters.

Meanwhile, the Hello Vietnamese book series has a fun design combined with vivid illustrations to support the teaching and learning of Vietnamese for Vietnamese children abroad aged 6-15. It features stories, dialogues, role-plays, couplets, poems, rhymes, music, cartoons, documentaries, audio clips, fairy tales, experiments, tasks, and many challenges that can help students stay motivated to learn Vietnamese and maintain their long-term learning needs.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Do Van Chien, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Secretary of the Party Delegation of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, affirmed that the sixth season of the National Book Awards has seen many innovations.

An art performance at the awarding ceremony of the National Book Awards. Photo: Viet Linh/The Hanoi Times

"Throughout the years, the National Book Awards have had a strong community outreach, offered deep expertise, and been well received and appreciated by the public. We honor authors, translators and publishers, which means we also honor the reading culture," Chien said.

Chien suggested that the publishing industry must continue to improve the overall quality of its operations and invest in the development of publishing, printing and distribution in a streamlined and high-quality direction, combined with digital technology.

Improve the dissemination of the award

The National Book Award recognizes and honors writers, translators, scholars, and those involved in publishing and printing, contributing to building reading culture and developing the publishing industry.

Authors and publishers who have won A Prize. Photo: Viet Linh/The Hanoi Times

Pham Minh Tuan, Chairman of the Vietnam Publishers Association and chairman of the 6th National Book Awards Council, reported that this year 41 publishers submitted 312 titles and 435 books, an increase of 15% in the number of books compared to 2022. The submissions are of high quality, with good content and attractive form, targeting an independent audience. Many books are of high theoretical and practical value, topical, and of interest to society.

Although the National Book Award has many innovations and improvements, Tuan suggested that the award should add some categories, such as books loved by readers and books with a large number of copies.