Lã Duy Long receives his prize from the Japanese Ambassador to Việt Nam. — VNS Photo Nguyễn Bình

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội-based Lã Duy Long was awarded special prize at a story writing contest Đóa Hoa Đồng Thoại (Bouquet of Children's Stories Contest) with his short story about donating hair to a cancer patient.

Eleven-year-old Long, from Vạn Phúc Primary School in Hà Nội's suburban Thanh Trì District, also took the first prize in primary school category.

Other first prizes went to Lê Minh Hải Triều from the southern province of An Giang, in the high school category and Đào Thị Mai from the northern city of Hải Phòng.

"I observe the things I love the most and suddenly I realised how beautiful my mother’s hair is," Long said at a special ceremony held on November 23 at the Museum of Việt Nam Literature.

"I have to stand on a chair to comb her shiny hair. It inspired me to write a story with a message about sharing love.”

Besides the special and first prizes, the organisers also awarded six-second prizes, nine third prizes and several consolation prizes.

Launched in March the contest received 3,687 entries from more than 2,500 contestants of all ages from 63 provinces and cities throughout the country. This is also the first year that the organisational board received entries from outside Việt Nam, such as Italy, Finland and Sweden.

The contest is held annually in Japan and has been running since 1970. It was brought to Việt Nam in 2018 as an event commemorating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Việt Nam by ENEOS Việt Nam and More Production Việt Nam, sponsored by the Embassy of Japan in Việt Nam.

"I believe that through this contest, Vietnamese children living from the north to the south, with different circumstances, can nurture their imagination to explore new worlds and experience the joy of writing stories," said Japanese Ambassador to Việt Nam, Naoki Ito.

The contest jurors included children’s writer Lê Phương Liên, Doctorate in Education and Chairwoman of Reading Books With Children Club, Nguyễn Thuỵ Anh.

A book of the award-winning stories was also launched at the ceremony with all proceeds from being donated to fund picture book promotion activities and scholarships. — VNS