Establishment of the first Kim Dong Literature Award

Deputy Director and Editor-in-Chief of Kim Dong Publishing House Vu Thi Quynh Lien said that it has been nearly 10 years since the 2015 creative writing campaign, and the Publishing House has not organized any creative writing contest. This is enough time for a new generation of authors to emerge.

This is also the period when we enter and witness many exciting changes in the domestic publishing industry with readers' needs increasingly expanding in terms of topics and genres. We also gradually see the challenges of technology and artificial intelligence applications affecting cultural and artistic creative activities and the reading habits of young people.

Secretary of the Central Youth Union, Chairman of the Central Council of Young Pioneers Nguyen Pham Duy Trang spoke at the ceremony.

“With the desire to discover new writers for children, to have new, quality literary works that convey many meaningful messages about the people and country of Vietnam, Kim Dong Publishing House decided to establish an award for literary works for children named Kim Dong. The first Kim Dong Literary Award is associated with the 2023-2025 children's writing campaign organized by the Publishing House,” Ms. Vu Thi Quynh Lien shared.

Speaking at the ceremony, Secretary of the Central Youth Union, Chairman of the Council of Young PioneersCentralNguyen Pham Duy Trang emphasized: "Creating literature for children is a source of nourishment to nourish a good, healthy, altruistic, compassionate soul, and to foster the will and determination to rise up in people from a young age."

Therefore, literary works for children today need to be written with a new perspective, a new writing style, providing life experiences for maturity and especially need to receive the response of young readers.

“The announcement of the Kim Dong Literature Award is like sowing and planting seeds, but to have a bountiful harvest, attention, care, nurturing and cultivation are needed,” said Secretary Nguyen Pham Duy Trang.

Writer Nguyen Nhat Anh shared at the ceremony

Acknowledging and appreciating the Kim Dong Publishing House's organization of the literary award named after Heroic Martyr Kim Dong, poet Phan Thi Thanh Nhan said that the award, together with the campaign to create literature on children's topics of the Vietnam Writers Association, the De Men children's award will create great encouragement and motivation for writers.

“Writing about children is really not easy, especially in today’s changing world. But I believe that with love for children, great professional responsibility and the emergence of many awards and campaigns, we will have more excellent works that best serve the needs of children,” poet Phan Thi Thanh Nhan shared.

When asked if there is any “secret” to writing best-selling children's books like today, writer Nguyen Nhat Anh said that it is difficult to give any specific “secret”, if there is one, the writer must be truly passionate, dedicated, and must “play the role” of children to understand their world.

The Kim Dong Literature Award is open to all professional and non-professional writers, with three categories: short stories, novels and poems. The entries are aimed at children (6-10 years old) and teenagers (11-15 years old). The total prize value is up to 360 million VND. Specifically, the Organizing Committee will award 1 first prize worth 100 million VND, 2 second prizes worth 60 million VND each, 3 third prizes worth 30 million VND each and 5 consolation prizes worth 10 million VND each.

The Final Jury includes famous writers who have made many contributions to Vietnamese children's literature: Chairman of the Jury, writer Tran Duc Tien and members: Writer Nguyen Nhat Anh, Writer Ly Lan, Poet - Doctor of Education Nguyen Thuy Anh and Editor-in-Chief of Kim Dong Publishing House Vu Thi Quynh Lien.

The deadline for receiving works is from June 17, 2023 to March 31, 2025. The closing ceremony of the Children's Writing Campaign 2023 - 2025 and the awarding of the first Kim Dong Literature Award is scheduled for June 2025 (the anniversary of the founding of Kim Dong Publishing House).

According to VOV