Opening of the preliminary round of the 18th National Press Awards 2023

1,827 press works entered the preliminary round

At the ceremony, journalist Tran Thai Son, Standing member of the Preliminary Council - Director of the Vietnam Journalists Association Electronic Information Portal, announced the Decision on the establishment of the Preliminary Council, the list of members and the working regulations of the Preliminary Council.

Opening of the 18th National Press Awards 2023, the prize has a record number of works 1 — Delegates attending the opening of the preliminary round of the 18th National Press Awards 2023.

Sharing about the compilation of works submitted to this year's Award, journalist Do Thi Thu Hang, Vice President of the Preliminary Council, Head of the Professional Department of the Vietnam Journalists Association, said that this year's National Press Award received the participation of 18/21 Inter-Association Branches, 30 affiliated Branches and 63/63 Provincial and Municipal Journalists Associations. The organization and implementation of this year's Award at all levels of the Association was mostly carried out in an orderly and effective manner.

However, due to the late Lunar New Year holiday this year, along with preparations for the National Press Festival and several important conferences of the Vietnam Journalists Association, the submission of entries for the award was later than usual and some Association levels did not follow the instructions.

The Secretariat of the tournament has completed its work on schedule and with the best possible quality. Up to now, all preparations have been carried out in accordance with the tournament regulations and on schedule.

Opening of the 18th National Press Awards 2023, the prize has a record number of works. Image 2 — Journalist Nguyen Duc Loi, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Journalists Association, Chairman of the Preliminary Council of the 18th National Press Awards 2023, spoke at the opening ceremony.

According to statistics, this year there were 1,905 works submitted for the award, continuing to reach the highest level ever, of which 127 works had the participation of authors who were not members of the Vietnam Journalists Association.

The Secretariat of the Award has pre-qualified 78 works and included 1,827 works that are eligible to participate in the preliminary round according to regulations. Thus, the number of works this year has increased significantly compared to last year's award, which was 1,774 works eligible to participate in the award.

According to journalist Do Thi Thu Hang, this year, the print journalism category has a total of 619 works, with 3 award groups including: news, reflection, and interview awards with 296 works; editorial, commentary, and treatise awards with 105 works; and reportage, investigative reporting, journalistic reports, and notes awards with 218 works.

The photojournalism category has 1 group of awards: single photo, photo reportage, and photo group with 101 works.

Radio genre has a total of 199 works, with 2 award groups including: news, reflection, interview, commentary, essay, talk show, topic, general radio with 64 works; reportage, investigative report, memoir with 135 works.

Opening of the 18th National Press Awards 2023, the prize has a record number of works image 3 — Journalist Do Thi Thu Hang, Vice President of the Preliminary Council, Head of the Professional Department of the Vietnam Journalists Association, reported at the opening ceremony.

The television category has a total of 465 works, with 3 award groups: news, reportage, and memoir awards with 343 works; commentary, exchange, and discussion awards with 28 works; and television documentary awards with 94 works.

The online newspaper has a total of 443 works, with 2 groups of awards: news, reflection articles, interviews, comments, discussions, online exchanges with 265 works; reportage, investigative reportage, journalistic notes, notes with 178 works.

In particular, radio, television and electronic newspapers continue to be judged online through the judging software of the Vietnam Journalists Association.

A season with a record number of entries

Speaking at the opening of the judging round, journalist Nguyen Duc Loi, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Journalists Association and Chairman of the Preliminary Judging Council, said: "The first step to a successful press award is the preliminary judging round. The judging round determines the success or failure of a press award. Each member needs to determine the importance of their work. We need to work with an objective, impartial, open and transparent spirit throughout the judging process."

Opening of the 18th National Press Awards 2023, the number of entries recorded 4 — Members of the National Press Awards Preliminary Council discussed and finalized the expected number of works proposed for the Final round for each category.

The members of the council are experienced journalists, currently managing press agencies, selected from press agencies from central to local levels. The members have positions in the press, professional prestige, and practical work experience.

There are members who may not be in management but are reputable faces and writers with many years of experience and are capable of evaluating journalistic works and are also invited to the preliminary subcommittee.

Journalist Nguyen Duc Loi affirmed: We hope that each member will uphold their sense of responsibility, work truly objectively, judge the work, not the author, and not the press agency.

Regarding the number of entries this year, journalist Nguyen Duc Loi said: Local Journalists Associations and press agencies have recently carried out many tasks, many of which were organized for the first time, many of which were carried out under difficult conditions, but press agencies and journalist associations at all levels have always responded to participate in the National Press Awards. The number of entries has never been as high as this year, a season with a record number of entries.

Opening of the 18th National Press Awards 2023, the prize has a record number of works image 5 — The preliminary round jury members spent most of their time discussing the judging method and specific timing.

"The number of works in each category has changed, some categories have a large number of participating works, some categories have a decrease in the number of works compared to last year, so we need to determine the structure of the number of works to include in the final round..." - journalist Nguyen Duc Loi shared more.

Also at the opening session of the preliminary round, the members of the preliminary round judging council spent most of their time discussing the judging method and specific time and location to ensure scientificity, improve quality as well as progress of the proposed plan.

The preliminary round of the 18th National Press Awards 2023 will begin from April 16, 2024 to May 6, 2024.