HÀ NỘI — Thirty six outstanding works by professional and non-professional journalists on the harmful impacts of cigarettes were awarded prizes in Hà Nội on Wednesday.

The writing competition to combat smoking, held by the Ministry of Information and Communications and Health Ministry, is among the activities to mark World No Tobacco Day (May 31), an annual World Health Organisation event to inform people of the dangers of smoking and the tobacco industry. 

Started in May last year, the contest received 205 works under four categories - printed newspapers, online newspapers, TV broadcasting and radio broadcasting – in eight months.

The first prizes of the four categories were presented to Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper, Đồng Nai Province’s online newspaper, Hải Phòng City’s Television and Hà Nội Television.

Vietnamplus.vn, Việt Nam News Agency’s e-newspaper, received the second prize with its work “Joining hands to build a non-smoking family.”

At the award ceremony, Nguyễn Minh Hồng, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications and head of the contest’s organising committee, said the entries this year were submitted by reporters, editors of media agencies, media officers of education and communication centres nationwide, and non-professional writers, such as those who are retired, people from ethnic minority groups and students.

The submissions vary from documentaries, interviews, opinions to poems and songs.

“The works from professional journalists show multi-faceted and sharp views on aspects of smoking prevention and fight. The highlights are implementation of laws, regulations, cigarette smuggling prevention and specific statistics, as well as documents and witnesses to prove harmful effects of smoking and passive smoking,” he said.

He hoped the contest would motivate journalists to have better media works to change awareness and behaviour of the whole society towards the harmful habit.

Lương Ngọc Khuê, head of the Administration of Medical Examination and Treatment and director of Fund for Tobacco Harms Prevention under the Health Ministry, said non-infectious illnesses, such as blood-pressure related diseases, heart failure, diabetes and cancer, are all caused by smoking andbecomean epidemic. Smoking not only has consequences on one’s health, but also has significant socio-economic impact. Preventing and combating smoking are hard work, he noted.

 “The works submitted to the contest lead to trust and encouragement for officials, who implement smoking prevention activities, and have a powerful dissemination effect,” he said, lauding and thanking journalists for their efforts in the fight against smoking. — VNS