Hanoi (VNA) – Winners of the 2021 “De Men” (Cricket) Award for Children were announced at a ceremony on June 1 on the occasion of International Children’s Day.
This is the second edition of the award, which was held last year for the first time by the Vietnam News Agency’s The Thao & Van Hoa (Sports & Culture) newspaper.
It received 120 entries – 20 more than in the first edition, 16 of which made to the finale, including eight literary and two fine arts works, three movies and three music pieces.
The judging panel could not determine a winner of the major “Cricket Knight” prize, so instead decided to grant five “Cricket Desire” awards instead of four.
The five winning works were the novel “Di tron” (Seeking shelter) by writer Binh Ca; the cartoon “Khuc go muc” (A rotten log) directed by People’s Artist Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa, inspired by a series of paintings on nature and life by a 14-year-old painter Xeo Chu; the comic “Ly & Chun - Tet la nhat, nhat la Tet” (Ly & Chun - Tet is the best) by Meo Moc; and a series of stories “Khac biet moi tuyet lam sao” (How great is the difference) by Nguyen Hoang Vu and artists from Ga’s Little World.
People’s Artist Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa and screenwriter Phan Duc Tuan (centre) are awarded with a Cricket Desire award for “Khuc go muc.” (Photo: VietnamPlus)Poet Tran Dang Khoa, Vice President of the Vietnamese Writers’ Association and head of the judging panel, said to be honoured as a “Cricket Knight”, each candidate must have a remarkable work published in the year of the award, no matter how many works he/she had produced in the past.
Only then, the awards are able to encourage experienced authors to invest their time and efforts in creating new works, he said, adding that this year’s winning works all stand out among products for children.
A screen from “Khuc go muc.” (Photo: Organiser)“Khuc go muc” was inspired by a series of paintings by Xeo Chu, the smallest winner this year, which depict life and nature through the lens of a pure and naïve child.
“When COVID-19 broke out, shutting down classes and social distancing orders in place, everyone had to stay home,” Xeo Chu said, “I was so nervous that I just walked around the house and painted whatever I saw.”
Nhập mô tả cho ảnh Painter Xeo Chu. (Photo: Organiser)“Ultimately, flowers were the most attractive to me, because there are so many different kinds of them and their colours are so beautiful that I could paint like forever.”
“The more I paint, the more beautiful I think they are,” he said.
Novel “Di tron” by Binh Ca. (Photo: VietnamPlus)Named after the main character in the famous Vietnamese children's story De Men Phieu Luu Ky (Diary of a Cricket) by To Hoai, the annual non-profit awards are presented to excellent composes, art performances and entertainment programmes created by children themselves or for children.
The awards comprise one grand prize named “Cricket Knight” and several other awards called “Cricket Desire”.
The awards honours works that meet either of these two criteria: compositions, art performances and entertainment programmes by children or composers, art performances and entertainment programmes for children. International authors with works created for Vietnamese children are also eligible.
The entries can be in one of several forms like literature, cinema, music, arts, theatre, photography, comic, traditional games or electronic games.
Last year, the Cricket Knight prize of 30 million VND (1,300 USD) went to writer Nguyen Nhat Anh for his work “Lam ban voi bau troi” (Make Friends with the Sky).
The organisers also presented four Cricket Desire awards of 10 million VND each to a collection of paintings from 10-year-old Nguyen Doi Chung Anh, a long story from 12-year-old Cao Khai An, a collection of short stories by writer Nguyen Chi Ngoan, and a collection of songs about children by composer Nguyen Van Chung./.
