The awards ceremony was created by the Vietnam News Agency(VNA)’s The Thao & Van Hoa (Sports & Culture) newspaper, along with thefamily of the late painter Bui Xuan Phai (1920-1988) in 2008 to honour hiscareer and spread his love for the capital city.
The awards were classified into four categories: GrandPrize, Idea Prize, Job Prize, and Work Prize.
Speaking at the ceremony, VNA General Director Nguyen DucLoi praised the efforts by the newspaper in organising the awards, which haveserved the mission of discovering and honouring significant contributions tothe capital city.
This year’s Grand Prize went to 96-year-old Nguyen Ba Dam.Dam, born in Moc village, Giap Nhat, used to serve as a history teacher at PhanDinh Phung high school. He was a good friend of Bui Xuan Phai and was an inspirationfor 242 of Phai’s portrait sketches.
He is renowned for his collection of ancient coins andartist belongings. To date he has published two books on Hanoi, with two othersexpected to debut in 2018 and 2019.
The Work Prize went to the poetry collection “Ta con em” (Ihave you) by poet Phan Vu and the documentary film “Mon Hanoi” (My Hanoi) by formerFrench Ambassador to Vietnam Jean Noel Poirier.
The Idea Prize was handed over to Associate Professor NguyenVan Huy and other scientists who suggested the preservation of Vuon Chuoi’sarcheological relics, where the first inhabitants are believed to have settleddown in the capital.
The winning entries of the Job Prize were the vault muralsalong Phung Hung pedestrian street and the handing over of two ancient anchorsto Hanoi by Quach Van Dich.
The Phung Hung murals are the result of an art project torenovate the street of the same name and introduce art into urban areas whichbegan in August last year. Behind the project was the Hoan Kiem DistrictPeople’s Committee, UN-Habitat and the Korea Foundation. The urban street artevoked memories of old Hanoi and traditional Vietnamese culture.
Elsewhere, Quach Van Dich said he spent nine taels of gold tobuy the memorabilia anchors and that despite receiving high offers in thebillions of VND to sell them, he decided to donate them to the Hanoi Museumlast year. –VNA