Nguyễn Lê Diệu Thư, with her friend Uyên, botth are students from HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, won the first prize with a story about Breast Cancer Network Việt Nam, an association whose mission is to raise funds in order to financially help breast cancer patients. Photo courtesy of Nguyễn Lê Diệu Thư.

HÀ NỘI — First prize in the Young Francophones Reporters – Việt Nam 2021 – a writing contest in French held by Le Courrier du Vietnam (CVN), a French-language weekly under the Vietnam News Agency, has been awarded to Nguyễn Lê Diệu Thư and Lê Trọng Tường Uyên, students from HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

The co-authors won for their reportage titled “Souhaiter un avenir en rose pour les femmes atteintes du cancer du sein” (Wishing for a bright future for women with breast cancer), about Breast Cancer Network Việt Nam, an association whose mission is to raise funds in order to financially help breast cancer patients.

They were given a VNĐ20 million (US$880) laptop and a one-year subscription to access CVN articles.

The second prize was given to Nguyễn Đức Minh Hoàng and Nguyễn Thị Thùy Trang, two students from the University of Huế for their work “Un regard sur le portrait de la dernière Công Tôn Nữ” (A look at the portrait of the last Công Tôn Nữ).

Organisers also presented a third prize, two encouragement prizes, a People’s Choice award, an Impressive Contestant, a Dynamic Contestant, Belgian Embassy and Moroccan Embassy Award, Group Award of Francophone Embassies, Delegations and Institutions in Việt Nam (GADIF).

Under the theme “Femmes francophones, Femmes résilientes” (Francophone women, resilient women), the contest aims to encourage young people to express their thoughts on the role of women in Việt Nam and elsewhere, as well as efforts to reduce disparities between men and women.

Lê Trọng Tường Uyên is one the winners of the 2021 Young Francophones Reporters competition. Photo courtesy of Lê Trọng Tường Uyên.

The contest was sponsored by the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), the embassies of France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada and Morocco, the Francophone Universities Association (AUF), the Wallonie-Bruxelles Delegation in Hà Nội, and other partners.

The contest attracted attention from young writers, particularly university students learning French throughout the country.

Organisers said the best stories out of nearly 135 entries (from 122 authors) had been selected for the final round.

Deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Đoàn Thị Y Vy, who is also head co-organiser of the event, said: "This year, due to the pandemic, the organisers faced many difficulties such as not being able to meet lecturers and students from many universities to talk about the contest as usual.

“Despite many difficulties, this 6th Young Francophone Reporter Contest still received many entries from the North, Central and South provinces.”

The judges were very impressed by the Vietnamese students' expressive skills as well as their level of French. Criteria for evaluating articles mainly focus on quality as well as topic.

“I’m very impressed with the quality of the articles as the contestant’s French was very good. I think these young people are very skilled in providing information and expressing emotions through this languague,” Cristina Romila, ambassador of Romania to Việt Nam, member of the jury, said.

This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of holding a live award ceremony, the Organising Committee published a video clip to introduce the contest and announce the prizes on Le Courrier du Vietnam Facebook page.

Through articles at the Young Francophones Reporter Contest organised annually, the writers, many of whom are young students, have expressed their feelings, points of views and comments and introduced to the French-speaking community Việt Nam’s beauty, culture and people. VNS