ĐÀ NẴNG — Đà Nẵng has launched a souvenir design contest for 2017 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) Summit running from this December to next March.

The city said Vietnamese and foreigners are eligible and the top 50 samples will be selected for final awards.

The winning design samples will be mass produced for gifts to delegations and deputies participating in 2017 APEC in Đà Nẵng next November.

The winner will take a cash-prize of VNĐ50 million (US$2,200), while the runner-up will get VNĐ25 million ($1,100), and two third place finalists will receive VNĐ15 million ($666) each.

The contest’s organising committee also give 10 encouragement prizes for finalists.

According to Đà Nẵng City’s administration, the souvenirs must make an impression among participants at the APEC and communicate the city’s commitment to protecting the environment and building a ‘green city’ by 2025.

Local artist Lê Nguyên Vỹ, whose photography printed on stone and leaf was chosen as one of five typical gifts of the city, plans to create portraits of leaders of economy members at 2017 APEC on shells.

At the Asian Beach Games in October, the city also presented mascot of the red-shanked douc langur (Pygathryx nemaeus) as gifts for sport delegations participating in the Games.

The city has chosen the red-shanked douc langur (Pygathryx nemaeus) as Đà Nẵng’s official mascot at the 2017 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) Summit.

In 2015, the city’s administration, in collaboration with the Centre of Biodiversity Conservation, GreenViet, issued lucky money bags as part of a communication campaign to protect the red-shanked douc langur and the biodiversity in the Sơn Trà Nature Reserve.

The 2,500ha Sơn Trà Nature Reserve, 10km away from the city’s centre, shelters nearly 300 red-shanked douc--a kind of langur that was declared endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2013. — VNS