NINH BÌNH — Three Vietnamese historians were honoured with 2017 Phạm Thật Duật awards at a ceremony held in Yên Mô District in the northern province of Ninh Bình on Sunday.

This year’s awards have been given to Professor Lê Hải Đăng from the Vietnam Institute of Archeology, Professor Dương Thanh Mừng from Huế University’s College of Education and Professor Nguyễn Xuân Hùng from the Institute for Religious Studies.

The event was jointly organised by the Việt Nam Association of Historical Sciences and the Phạm Thận Duật Award Fund.

The Phạm Thận Duật Award Fund was founded in 2000 in honour of Phạm Thật Duật (1825 – 1885), a patriotic scholar and historian who was born in Yên Mô District. The awards are given yearly to outstanding historians who have made significant contributions to the understanding of national history.

This is the first time that the awards ceremony has been celebrated in Phạm Thật Duật’s hometown, after 17 years at the Temple of Literature in Hà Nội. 

Also on the occasion, the Phạm Thận Duật Award Fund presented a set of gifts to local students who have performed well in national contests, as well as to disadvantaged students with excellent academic performances.

In the past 17 years, the fund has given 92 prizes in total, including eight first prizes, 38 second prizes and 46 third prizes. Two were awarded to international historians who conducted outstanding historical relating to Việt Nam and Southeast Asia.— VNS