Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (third from left) presents the special prize to Vietnam News Agency and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) won a total of 20 prizes, including one special prize shared with two other agencies, four first, one second, seven third and seven consolation prizes, at the 7th National External Information Service Awards presentation ceremony in Hà Nội on Sunday night.

Việt Nam News got third prize for a series of articles on Việt Nam's COVID-19 vaccination push: Researchers propose measures for a successful vaccination strategy; Việt Nam pushes vaccination drive amid ‘shocking inequity’ in global distribution; Ensuring global equitable access to vaccines is critical in containing the pandemic: UNICEF; and Two-track pandemic: We might just not be in this together.

With these prizes, VNA became one of the units that have secured the most prizes in the National External Information Service Awards for a number of consecutive years.

Co-organised by the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education and the Central Steering Committee for External Information Service, the event honoured 102 best entries, including one special, 10 first, 19 second, 29 third and 43 consolation prizes.

It also marked the 10th year of implementing the Politburo’s Conclusion No.16-KL/TW on the external information development strategy for the 2011-20 period. Over the past decade, external information has made positive contributions to the country’s information and education work as well as the Party and State’s achievements in external affairs.

This year, the organising board received over 1,000 entries in 14 languages which were published as articles in print and online newspapers, websites licensed by competent agencies, radio and TV broadcast, press and landscape photos, and books.

Notably, foreign authors and press agencies, overseas Vietnamese and Vietnamese embassies abroad also sent works to the awards.

Speaking at the event, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính described external information as an important part of the Party’s external affairs, State and people-to-people diplomacy, and ideological affairs. Its core role is to bring Việt Nam to the world and the world closer to Việt Nam, he said.

The PM requested renewing the external information work by adopting advanced technologies to improve quality, thus ensuring correctness, timeliness, attractiveness, relevance and efficiency in multiple languages.

He presented certificates to a group of authors winning the special prize, including the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the VNA and those participating in the external information work, for their work on introducing and popularising Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng article entitled “Several theoretical and practical issues on socialism and the path towards socialism in Việt Nam” to political parties and international friends. — VNS