HCM CITY — Phan Châu Trinh Cultural Foundation, a non-profit organisation that manages the Việt Nam Union of Science and Technology Associations, has officially closed, the foundation’s chairwoman and former Vice President, Nguyễn Thị Bình, said last week.

The foundation opened in 2007 to honour individuals and groups for their contributions to Vietnamese culture, translation, research and Vietnamese studies.

In 2008, it began offering the annual Phan Châu Trinh Award, which has been granted to hundreds of people in different fields. The awards also honoured national hero, poet and cultural expert Phan Châu Trinh, a native of central Quảng Nam Province.

Born in 1872, Trinh was a reformer who fought in the resistance movement against the French when he was young. He devoted his life to the country’s modernisation cause.

The Phan Châu Trinh Awards 2018 honoured 75-year-old musician and music teacher Dương Thụ for his contribution to music research and to Vietnamese culture and music.

Thụ received the Culture and Education prize in HCM City.

Thụ, who began his music career in 1982, has composed more than 100 songs in pop and contemporary folk music. Many of his works were top hits and performed by star musicians.  

The Culture and Education prize was shared with a group of book translators called Nhất Nghệ Tinh, who began their work in 2010 in Germany. They have released many books in education and technology for Vietnamese students and young people.

Translator Nguyễn Tùng received the Translation Prize for his work in anthropology.

The Research Prize was shared by Lữ Phương for his works on Marxism and Phan Cẩm Thượng for his works in Vietnamese folk culture. 

The Vietnamese Studies prize was given to French cultural researchers Daniel Hémery and Piere Brocheux.

Scholar Phạm Quỳnh (1893-1945) was honoured as a Vietnamese Man of Culture.

Phan Châu Trinh Cultural Foundation’s latest project, Dự Án Tôn Vinh Danh Nhân Văn Hóa Việt Nam (Project to Honour Vietnamese scholars), began 2016 and highlighted Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh, Trương Vĩnh Ký, Phan Châu Trinh, Phan Bội Châu, Phan Khôi and Phạm Quỳnh, Vietnamese men of culture of the 20th century.

The foundation officially closed on February 20 for a number of reasons, which were not publicly disclosed. — VNS