Cover of Vết Nhơ Của Người (The Human Stain) by American author Philip Roth and translated by Phạm Viêm Phương and Huỳnh Kim Oanh. The book won the prize for translation in the literature category at the Best Books Awards 2019 in HCM City. —Photo from publisher

HCM CITY — The winners of the annual Best Book Awards 2019 were announced on Sunday in HCM City following a five-month vote by readers.

Original Vietnamese works and translations in seven categories of education, research, economics, management, literature, children's books, and new discoveries were honoured.

The best book in the research category was awarded to Hoàng Sa Trường Sa – Nghiên Cứu Từ Sử Liệu Trung Quốc (Hoàng Sa Paracel and Trường Sa (Spratly) -- from China’s Historical Documents), a work by Phạm Hoàng Quân. 

Chu Lan Đình received a prize for his translation Tri Thức Khách Quan- Một Cách Tiếp Cận Dưới Góc Độ Tiến Hóa of the book Objective Knowledge by Karl R. Popper that was released in 1972.  

A book on Việt Nam society and regulations, titled Xã Hội Công Dân Việt Nam Dưới Góc Nhìn Thể Chế, edited by Nguyễn Khắc Giang and Nguyễn Quang Thái, won in the economics category.

A prize also went to translator Nguyễn Tuấn Việt’s book on crowd-based capitalism by Arun Sundararajan.

Zen master Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Con Gà Đẻ Trứng Vàng & Mỗi Hơi Thở Một Nụ Cười (The Chicken and the Golden Eggs & A Breath and A Smile) and translator Thanh Điền’s Chuyến Tàu Đêm Trên Giải Ngân Hà (Night Train in the Galaxy), a work by Kenji Miyazawa, won in the children’s books category.

Translators Phạm Viêm Phương and Huỳnh Kim Oanh won in the literature category for their translation Vết Nhơ Của Người of the novel The Human Stain by American author Philip Roth.

The organisers, the Good Books Reading Project and IRED Education Institute in co-operation with OpenEdu, chose not to give an award for the new discoveries category this year.

Last year, the prizes went to Nguyễn Đình Đầu's Chủ Quyền Việt Nam Trên Biển Đông và Hoàng Sa-Trường Sa (Việt Nam's Sovereignty over East Sea, Paracel and Spratly Archipelagoes) and Trần Quang Đức's Ngàn Năm Áo Mũ (Thousand Years of Bonnet and Gown).

In the education category, Nguyễn Xuân Xanh was honoured for his book on university education in Việt Nam.

Dr. Bùi Trân Phượng, a founder of the Best Books Awards, said the awards were created to encourage quality writing and to spread the reading habit in society. — VNS