Da Nang female student writes letter to director James Cameron, wins national first prize in UPU 2025 contest

Da Nang female student writes letter to director James Cameron, wins national first prize in UPU 2025 contest - Photo 1.

Khue takes a photo with her teachers - Photo: Le Quy Don School

On April 21, Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted (Da Nang) confirmed that student Pham Doan Minh Khue, class 10C2, had just received notification of winning first prize in the national UPU International Letter Writing Competition 2025.

This year's contest theme is: "Imagine you are the ocean. Write a letter to someone explaining why and how they should take good care of you."

Minh Khue chose to write a letter to director James Cameron - the "father" of blockbusters such as Titanic, Avatar, The Abyss - who has devoted his entire career to telling great stories about people and nature. In the letter, "Dai Duong" calls himself "I", frankly expressing the pain that is gnawing at each layer of water and each layer of sediment.

"Humans fill us with millions of tons of garbage, drill deep into our hearts, suck every drop of oil, tear at our flesh in search of resources," Minh Khue wrote.

"We need a movie that tells the truth, our story: We are being killed, and if we die, humanity will end!"

Khue proposed the film title: The Ocean's Plea - a test of human love and responsibility for the blue planet.

According to the organizers, Minh Khue's letter was highly appreciated for its unique ideas, sincere emotions and strong language.

The national first prize brought him a prize of 10 million VND, a certificate and a Creative Youth badge. The letter will be translated into French and sent to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in Switzerland to participate in the international competition.

In addition to Minh Khue's first prize, this year's contest also awarded 3 second prizes and 5 third prizes to students from Bac Ninh, An Giang, Hai Phong, Hai Duong and Hanoi.

The UPU International Letter Writing Competition has been organized by the Universal Postal Union since 1971, for students aged 10 to 15 in more than 60 countries and territories.

In Vietnam, the contest has been organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications for the past 36 years, with the aim of nurturing a love of language, creativity and interest in global issues.

The closing ceremony and award ceremony of the 2025 UPU competition is expected to take place in mid-May.