HÀ NỘI — Trần Minh Quang from Điện Biên province yesterday won first prize in the journalism writing contest Young Francophones Reporters –Việt Nam 2017, which was held for the second time by Le Courrier du Vietnam (CVN), a weekly French language newspaper under Vietnam News Agency.

Quang won for his reportage on Nev Tickners, an Australian man, and his love for the mountainous city of Điện Biên Phủ and Việt Nam.

Fascinated at the Điện Biên Phủ victory in 1954 against French colonialists, he was struck with Điện Biên Province, where he decided to move, soon growing attached to the people.

“The contest was very interesting as it has encouraged me a lot to learn French, and to improve my language,” Quang said at the awards ceremony on Saturday.

Second prize went to Đào Thị Nga with an entry about the role of Vietnamese mothers in war and society, and third prize was presented to Lê Thị Bảo Nhung for a story about young people preserving culture.

The competition, themed “The power of words” aims to encourage French-speakers in Việt Nam aged from 18 to 35 years old to write articles about Việt Nam in French, while showing the vitality of French through their writing.

It provides an opportunity for Vietnamese and foreign participants to express their points of view about the country, while highlighting the richness of French.

Over the six months of the contest, the organisation board received more than 50 entries.

“The competition has fulfilled its initial goals, which are to promote the image of the only French-language newspaper in Việt Nam, to create a playground of creativity for young Francophones in Việt Nam, to offer chances for contestants to familiarise themselves with journalism as well as to introduce Việt Nam’s culture and people to the community of 80 Francophonie countries”, said Nguyễn Thu Hà, editor-in-chief of CVN.

The jury was composed of journalists, French language teachers, writers, representatives of OIF and of different Francophone embassies. — VNS