Da Nang female student wins first prize in UPU letter writing contest

The 54th UPU International Letter Writing Competition (2025) is organized by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) with the theme: “Imagine you are the ocean. Write a letter to someone explaining why and how they should take good care of you and protect you.”

Surpassing 1.5 million students, Pham Doan Minh Khue, class 10C2, Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted, Son Tra district, Da Nang city won first prize.

Admiring the cinematic talent of Mr. James Cameron through the world-famous films Titanic and Avatar, Minh Khue thought of a movie script about the ocean to send to the director.

As the ocean, the letter reads: “You made humanity cry with Titanic, marvel with The Abyss, and sink in Avata. But now I need a movie that tells the truth, my own story: I am being killed and I am dying, and humanity is ending! I want the movie to be called: “The Ocean’s Appeal.”

According to Minh Khue's imagination, a detailed and dramatic movie script calls for the cooperation of all humanity to save the ocean: "Finally, the screen goes black again, the painful words of our Ocean: The above projects are just a drop in the ocean without the cooperation of ALL HUMANITY . Save our Ocean or welcome the END OF THE WORLD ! And our painful roar becomes even more intense".

Student Pham Doan Minh Khue won first prize in the 54th UPU letter writing competition.

From the content of the script that Minh Khue expressed through the letter to Mr. James Cameron, everyone hopes that the dream of the female student in the coastal city of Da Nang, Vietnam and of millions of ocean-loving hearts around the world will be interested by the famous filmmaker.

The judges highly appreciated Minh Khue's letter for knowing how to lead and integrate the theme in a subtle way. In particular, she built a perfect script for a film about the ocean.

This is the 9th time that Da Nang students have won the first prize in the national competition after 37 seasons held in Vietnam. Pham Doan Minh Khue's letter was translated into French by the Organizing Committee and sent to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in Switzerland to participate in the international competition.

This year's UPU competition was launched and implemented nationwide from November 11, 2024 to March 5, 2025. The Organizing Committee received nearly 1.5 million entries from students nationwide.

Localities with many quality entries are Hanoi , Hai Duong, Da Nang, Hue, Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Nghe An, Ho Chi Minh City, Khanh Hoa... These localities maximize their experience and inherent strengths, so the entries are carefully selected and invested in by the school and often have outstanding entries.

With this year's theme, many students transformed into the ocean to highlight the problems the world is facing, most notably marine pollution.

The children used their soaring imagination and unlimited creativity to talk, confide, remind people about the role of the ocean as well as share specific solutions and actions to protect the ocean, sea and marine ecosystem; demonstrating the responsibility of humans, especially the young generation, in preserving nature for sustainable development.

After 5 rounds of judging, the National Jury selected 142 entries for the final round. As a result, the organizing committee awarded 1 First Prize, 3 Second Prizes, 5 Third Prizes, 30 Encouragement Prizes, 61 Promising Writer Prizes and 10 Source of Ideas Prizes.

According to poet Tran Dang Khoa, Vice President of the Vietnam Writers Association, this year the quality of the entries is consistent and the best ever, with many works touching readers.

Nguyen Hoai

Source: https://tienphong.vn/nu-sinh-da-nang-gianh-giai-nhat-viet-thu-upu-post1742697.tpo