REGULATIONS
10TH NATIONAL EXTERNAL INFORMATION SERVICE AWARDS
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CHAPTER I:
GENERAL REGULATIONS
Article 1: Name of the Award
The National External Information Service Awards is an annual award initiated by the Steering Committee on External Information Work, under the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education, in collaboration with relevant agencies and units: the Central Foreign Affairs Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Public Security, the General Political Department of the People's Army of Vietnam, Nhan Dan Newspaper, Vietnam News Agency, Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam Radio, Vietnam Journalists’ Association, Vietnam Publishers Association... The award is presented to authors or groups of authors with outstanding and exemplary external information works as stipulated in the Regulations and other relevant legal documents.
Article 2: Purpose and Significance of the Award
1. Affirm that external information is an important part of the political, ideological, and diplomatic work of the Party and State's diplomacy, and people's diplomacy.
2. Honor authors or groups of authors with outstanding works/products in the field of external information service.
3. Provide motivation for groups and individuals to actively participate in communication and external information activities; enhancing connectivity among agencies, units, and localities, thereby maximizing the proactive contributions of all forces and improving the quality of external information service.
4. Contribute to the effective implementation of the Party's and State's guidelines, policies on external information service.
Article 3: Award Categories
The award will evaluate works/products in the following categories: (1) video clips; (2) initiatives, products contributive to external information service; (3) photographs; (4) television broadcasts; (5) radio broadcasts; (6) books; (7) print newspapers in Vietnamese; (8) e-newspapers and information websites in Vietnamese; (9) print newspapers in foreign languages; (10) e-newspapers and information websites in foreign languages.
Article 4: Entry Regulations
1. Submissions must be published on mass media, released, distributed, announced, implemented, or organized domestically and internationally from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024. For works/products released before or after this period, two-thirds of the work’s content must be published during the stipulated period to be qualified.
2. Works/products which have already been honored in other contests are eligible for the Awards, but must clearly state the award and information about the specific award, the organizer, and contest date.
3. Submissions must be free from copyright dispute since the release date.
4. Works/products ineligible for the Awards include: a series of stories which are independent works of individual authors at different dates of publishing without a single name for the series, works pending assessment of competent agencies, photos manipulated using photo editing software and works which violates the provisions of Copyright Law, Intellectual Property Law, and other legal regulations.
CHAPTER II:
SPECIFIC REGULATIONS
Article 5: Participants
1. All Vietnamese citizens and foreigners are eligible to submit external information works/products for the Awards.
2. Each author or group of authors can submit a maximum of 10 works/products for the Awards.
3. Members of the Award Council, Joint Jury, and Preliminary Jury are not allowed to submit their entries.
Article 6: Awarding Criteria
Entries considered for the Awards must be exemplary and meet the highest selection standards of the Awards, including:
1. Content:
Entries must have a wide dissemination within the country and internationally; effectively contribute to the foreign information service, specifically:
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Promote Vietnam as a peaceful, friendly, cooperative, and developing country, a reliable friend, an active, responsible member of the international community, contributing to enhancing the country's and the Communist Party of Vietnam's prestige, reputation on the international stage; Disseminate the country’s history, tradition, image, people, culture, achievements during the renovation process, noble and beautiful values, theory and practice of socialism and the path to socialism in Vietnam, the leadership role of the Party, the superiority of the regime, Vietnam's contribution to the world's cultural and intellectual heritage... to the international community; Honor and introduce the ideological, moral values, and style of President Ho Chi Minh; Honor Vietnamese historical figures recognized worldwide.
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Reflect truthfully, diversely about the world, introduce the cultural quintessence of humanity and progressive thoughts of the era consistent with the Party's viewpoint, and Vietnam's culture to the people domestically.
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Combat fabricated information, distorted arguments about Vietnam, protect the ideological foundation of the Party.
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Ignite patriotism, strengthen the great national unity and fuel desire for the country's prosperous development and happiness; Affirm the people's trust in the Party, the State, and the socialist regime.
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Reflect international community's sympathy, support for Vietnam, facilitating the renovation, construction, and defense of the Fatherland, successfully achieving the country's development goals by 2045.
2. Forms:
2.1. Awards for video clips and initiatives, products contributive to external information service
Video clip: One video clip or a series of video clips (no more than 05 products) on the same event or theme. The entries must be creatively made, first uploaded on the Internet platform (excluding press works published and broadcasted, then reposted on the Internet platform), and contribute to the external information service. Images must be dynamic; images and sounds must be appealing and meet quality standards. Background sound and music used in the entry must be copyrighted.
The duration of each video clip submission is no more than 7 minutes. Specifically, for video clips uploaded on social networking applications (Facebook, TikTok, ...), the minimum length is 30 seconds, and the maximum is 2 minutes.
Initiatives, products contributive to the external information service: Initiatives, products, activities with contributive values to the external information service.
2.2. Awards for works in the fields of journalism, publishing:
Category: Reflective article, interview, notes, commentary, analysis, reportage, investigative report, press release, multimedia information product, photo, book, as stipulated in Article 3 and Article 4.
Authors or groups of authors must submit their entries to the Awards according to the following regulations:
Photo: A single photograph, set of photos (no more than 10 photos). Specifically, for press photos, photo reports on the same content, only select those reports published in the same newspaper edition or at the same time (for e-newspapers). Composite photos, photos manipulated using photo editing software are not eligible.
Television Broadcast: One or a series of works (no more than 05) must be about the same event or topic. The duration of each program is no more than 120 minutes. The entries must carry the characteristics of television broadcast. The footage and soundtrack of entries must be attractive and meet quality standards. Footage, background sound and music used in the entry must be copyrighted.
Radio Broadcast: One or a series of works (no more than 05) about the same events or topics. The duration of a story is no more than 60 minutes. The entries must carry the characteristics of radio broadcast, including clear sound quality for characters’ voices, noise, and music. The audio must be attractive and meet quality standards. Background sound and music used in the entry must be copyrighted.
Book: A single book or set of books published in Vietnam and abroad.
Printed newspapers: One or a series of story items (no more than five), a specialized section must be by the same author or group of authors about the same events or topics. If the entry was published in different languages, only one version is eligible for submission. Entrants must clarify the reason for selecting the language of the submitted entry.
Online newspapers: One or a series of story items (no more than five) must carry the characteristics of an online newspaper, including multimedia items, by the same author or group of authors about the same event or topic. Online news entries must be created initially and exclusively for online newspapers. Entries republished from print newspapers are not eligible. If the entry was published in different languages, only one version is eligible for submission. Entrants must clarify the reason for selecting the language of the submitted entry.
3. Notes
Article 7: Submission Document Guidelines
1. Author of Entry
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The author's curriculum vitae must include: Full name, pen name, ID card/citizen identification card number, current position, working unit, mobile phone number, email.
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For groups of authors, a representative of the group must be clearly indicated.
2. Entry
2.1. Video clips and initiatives, products contributive to external information service
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Video clips: Entry must include information about the author or group of authors; an overview of the work (focused on the discovery, dissemination, attractiveness, key indicators showing the dissemination, Internet addresses where the video clip is disseminated, shared), a valid link to the work for at least 5 months from the submission date via online data storage services such as Dropbox, Google Drive...;
Video clips uploaded on social networking applications (Facebook, TikTok, ...) must meet copyright requirements, be uploaded on personal account using one of the following hashtags on the post: #giaithuongttdn; #ttdn.
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Initiatives, products contributive to external information service: The submission includes content/description of the initiative from the specific author and demonstrates the effectiveness of its dissemination.
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For the two categories of video clips and initiatives, products contributive to the external information service, the entries can be submitted in one of the following ways:
(1) Authors, author groups submit their works/products.
(2) Agencies, units, localities proactively propose and submit works/products to the Award Council. Note: For this submission, a written agreement between the submitting unit and the author is required.
2.2. Works in the field of journalism, publishing:
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For photo: The submitted photos can be sent in two ways: (i) Enlarged photos sized 18cm × 24cm (single photo) and 12cm × 18cm (set of photos or photo essays); (ii) Digital photo submissions, jpg format, sized from 5Mb - 12Mb, resolution 300 dpi. If necessary, the Organizing Committee has the right to request the author to submit the original copy for verification. Photos should not have borders, identifying marks. No captions, signatures on the photo. Photos that do not comply with these regulations will be disqualified without prior notice.
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For television broadcast: A valid link to the work for at least 5 months from the submission date must be provided via online data storage services such as Dropbox, Google Drive...; Each link indicates 01 entry and is accompanied by a Word file introducing the entry (including the name of the agency, author, entry, genre; duration; time of broadcast; detailed script with commentaries).
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For radio broadcast: A valid link to the work for at least 5 months from the submission date must be provided via online data storage services such as Dropbox, Google Drive...; Each link indicates 01 entry and is accompanied by a Word file introducing the entry (including the name of the agency, author, entry; genre; duration and broadcast time; transcription of the entry).
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For entries in print: Entry must be submitted in the original printed copies, photocopy, or electronic image file of the newspaper pages containing the work.
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For online newspaper and information websites: A valid link to the entry with information storage of at least 5 months from the submission date. For series of long articles, full links of the editions must be provided, complying with the regulations on publication time (as stipulated in Article 4 of the Regulations).
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For books: Works can be submitted in two ways: (i) printed books; (ii) electronic books, originally-published audio books (not electronic reprint of printed books). Authors are encouraged to include a PDF file with photos of the book via email. The entries must include a proof of agreement between the author and the publishing house, relevant units (if any) regarding awards entry and prize acceptance in case of winning. For translated works, they can be submitted for two categories: books and initiatives, products contributive to external information service.
3. Disqualified entries are those that do not meet the regulations and the Council will not return the submitted works for the Awards.
4. The Award Council, the Organizing Committee of the Award have the right to detect, nominate works/products that meet the Awards criteria. The number of nominated works/products shall not exceed 10% of the total number of entries for each category of the Awards as stipulated in Article 3.
Article 8: Prizes
+ Awards are given to works/products in categories as stipulated in Article 3.
+ The prizes at the Awards includes: 01 Special Prize for each category; 01 First Prize, 02 Second Prizes, 03 Third Prizes, and 05 Consolation Prizes for each category.
+ The number of prizes will be determined by the Awards Council based on the actual quality of the submitted works/products.
Article 9: Benefits of Award-winning Authors
1. For authors, groups of authors with award-winning entries, their prize consists of
2. Organizations, collectives, individuals winning awards can use the Awards’ emblem for promotional activities; to be commended by competent agencies, departments, organizations, agencies according to legal regulations.
Article 10: Process of Evaluation, Announcement, and Awarding of Prizes
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The Preliminary Evaluation Council is responsible for selecting outstanding entries based on appropriate qualitative and quantitative criteria, according to the language in which the work is presented, to nominate them for the final round.
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The Final Evaluation Council evaluates, appraises, and selects the best works based on the selection of the Preliminary Evaluation Council to submit to the Award Council for consideration and decision-making.
Based on the results of the Final Evaluation Council's selection, the Awards Council is responsible for evaluating and reporting to the Party’s Commission for Information and Education and the Steering Committee on External Information Work for approval of the list of winning works (through the Emulation and Commendation Council of the Party’s Commission for Information and Education).
The number of awards is determined by the Awards Council based on the Awards Regulations. The selection of outstanding works for awards does not have to fulfill the number of awards set out for each category.
Article 11: Award Announcement and Ceremony
The National External Information Service Awards prize announcement and ceremony are scheduled to be held in the third quarter of each year and broadcast live on Vietnam Television channel.
Article 12: Handle of Complaints, Denunciations, and Violations
1. Individuals have the right to complain about the evaluation results and violations of regulations, procedures related to the prize evaluation. Complaint letters must clearly state the name, address, reason for complaint, and be sent to the Awards Standing Agency. The Awards Standing Agency is responsible for reviewing and responding to complaint letters, reporting the results of complaint resolution to the Award Council.
2. The Award Council will revoke the award, notify the competent authorities to handle according to legal regulations in the following cases: (i) entries to the Awards violate the Press Law, Publishing Law, Copyright Law, Intellectual Property Law, relevant State regulations; (ii) exploitation of the winning titles for illegal activities.
3. The Council will not consider letters without clear names, addresses, or from senders impersonating others. The revocation of awards will be publicly announced in the mass media./.