Honoring the courage to commit, spreading creativity

This year, the theme "Awakening Courage" was chosen for the 5th Press Gala as a meaningful message to journalists: The more difficult the situation, the more we need to hone our courage; the more challenging the situation, the more we must strive to maintain our faith.

Delegates attending the Program.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, journalist Le Tran Nguyen Huy - Member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Journalists Association , Editor-in-Chief of the Journalist & Public Opinion Newspaper, Head of the Organizing Committee of the Award, said that in 2019, the Journalist & Public Opinion Newspaper organized the "Journalism Moments" photo award for the first time, within the framework of the 2019 Journalism Gala.

Since then, the "Press Moments" Photo Contest has gone through 5 seasons. The Organizing Committee is proud that among many photo contests, "Press Moments" has always been warmly welcomed by colleagues and photo lovers across the country.

A special musical space with the theme “Symphony from the heart”. The art program skillfully resonates Vietnamese folk and contemporary songs with world classics to convey the message of a bright Vietnam.

As expected by the Organizing Committee for a quality playground for professional photographers, the Photo Awards of the Journalist & Public Opinion Newspaper in recent times have contributed to honoring the authors and the tireless work of dedicated and responsible journalists.

"We understand that behind each photo is a story told through images, vividly reflecting hot, current events that are of special interest to the public. Our Organizing Committee highly appreciates the contributions of journalists, their experience, and dedication to their profession that have brought this contest impressive, quality moments...", journalist Le Tran Nguyen Huy shared.

Journalist Le Tran Nguyen Huy delivered the opening speech of the Program.

Journalist Le Tran Nguyen Huy affirmed that the "Press Moments" Photo Award will better fulfill its role and mission as a unique professional playground, spreading and honoring the creativity and dedication of journalists, aiming for an Award of greater stature and scale.

Recognizing and appreciating the quality of the Award, comrade Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association said that this is the 5th year that the Vietnam Journalists Association has directed the Journalist & Public Opinion Newspaper to organize this meaningful event with the desire to create a useful professional playground for journalists nationwide.

"We acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of the Organizing Committee throughout the journey in constantly improving the quality of the Award, improving and innovating in the direction of increasingly following the reality of domestic and international press photography. The prize structure with great value is maintained, so it is increasingly attracting authors to participate in the Award" , comrade Le Quoc Minh commented.

According to comrade Le Quoc Minh, in Vietnam in recent times, press photography has not really developed as its potential and expectations. Even with the National Press Awards, our Awards Council has repeatedly raised the issue that, compared to other genres, the number of press photography works submitted to the awards is very small, not really commensurate with what is happening in reality and in the press, the quality of the photos is also not as high as expected.

Comrade Le Quoc Minh shared: "At the "Press Moments" photo contest, we see the dedication to hardship and the dangerous situations of dedicated, delicate and responsible journalists."

Meanwhile, photojournalism is an important genre, where “a picture is worth a thousand words”, its information value is many times greater than written words… In addition, the professional playgrounds for quality and prestigious photojournalism are still too few, seemingly unable to meet all the needs of photojournalists, and unable to keep up with the development flow of photojournalism domestically and internationally.

"Therefore, the "Press Moments" Photo Award of the Journalist & Public Opinion Newspaper in particular and the press awards in general have contributed to encouraging, honoring, praising and motivating journalists nationwide.

At the "Journalistic Moments" photo contest, we saw the dedication to hardships and dangerous situations of dedicated, delicate and responsible journalists. Behind each journalistic work, the journalistic moments honored by the Organizing Committee today are certainly the responsible working spirit, dedication and courage of journalists in a challenging context," Comrade Le Quoc Minh affirmed.

Mr. Do Duc Hoang - Deputy General Director of Vietnam Television and Mr. Que Dinh Nguyen - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper awarded Bronze Prizes in 3 categories to authors whose works won prizes.

Comrade Le Quoc Minh hopes that the Journalist & Public Opinion Newspaper will continue to improve the quality of the Award with changes that are suitable to the reality and development trends of modern journalism. In particular, Comrade Le Quoc Minh emphasized the need to continue to innovate in the spirit of expanding the scale of the National Photo Award, attracting more photojournalists from all press agencies across the country, discovering and honoring the talents of journalistic photography.

As someone who has accompanied the "Press Moments" Photo Contest through 5 seasons, journalist Viet Van - reporter of Lao Dong Newspaper, member of the Jury shared that through each season, the quality of the entries has been increasingly improved in terms of choosing delicate moments, discovery and dedication. The Jury had to discuss, exchange and carefully select works with strong messages and demonstrate perfection in creation.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Loi - Former Member of the Party Central Committee, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Journalists Association and Mr. Pham Manh Hung - Deputy General Director of the Voice of Vietnam presented Silver Prizes in 3 categories to authors whose works won prizes.

"The most important criterion for selecting the work to be honored is "moment" as the name of the contest suggests. In the participating works, many photos have balance and the debate between single photos and photo series always happens.

We carefully consider between single photos and photo series. Photo series must express the story coherently and consistently, while single photos must have the content and meaning of the story encapsulated in one photo. The general trend of the jury is to respect photo series but appreciate single photos more," said journalist Viet Van.

Journalist Viet Van emphasized the openness, fairness and impartiality of the Photo Awards, which increasingly attracted a large number of journalists and reporters to participate. The jury worked seriously, without distinction of agencies, units, or regions, but only focused on the quality of the works. Working in the spirit of focusing on discovery and honor, discovering new names and honoring famous authors. The Organizing Committee always innovates the form, as this year it divided the awards into 3 categories so that the authors can fully promote their strengths.

Mr. Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, President of the Vietnam Journalists Association and Ms. Vu Viet Trang - Member of the Party Delegation, Member of the Standing Committee of the Vietnam Journalists Association, General Director of Vietnam News Agency and awarded the Gold Prize to the authors of the 3 categories.

Talking about expectations for the following seasons, journalist Viet Van hopes that the "Press Moments" Award will expand its genres even further, possibly even considering long-term projects of many years in a genre to create conditions for authors to specialize in a certain genre, demonstrate social discovery and further commitment.

Sharing the honor and happiness of attending the ceremony and receiving the gold prize in the Sports category, journalist Tran Thanh Hai, Nhan Dan Newspaper, said that the brand of the "Press Moments" Photo Award has been affirmed, this is a prestigious playground for photojournalists across the country.

"Here we can exchange, interact, and learn to further improve the quality of press photos, bringing readers new and unique perspectives of society," said journalist Tran Thanh Hai.

With a spirit of fair and serious work, the Jury has selected 42 quality works for the Photo Exhibition list. From this list, the Jury continues to select the best works to award according to the categories: Current Affairs Category: 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze; Social Life Category: 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze; Sports Category: 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze. The division of Categories for awarding prizes is one of the new points of this year's Award Ceremony.

Some photos at the 2023 Press Gala - Awarding the photo "Press Moments 2022":

Delegates visit the exhibition area of ​​outstanding works at the "Press Moments" Photo Contest 2022.

Delegates enthusiastically exchanged and expressed their feelings about the photos.

5 years - not a very long journey, but the photo award "Journalism Moments" organized by the Journalists and Public Opinion Newspaper has left memorable marks.

Delegates take souvenir photos.

List of winning works:

SOCIAL LIFE CATEGORY

1. Gold Prize: Aspiration to open roads on the North-South expressway construction site. Authors Nam Khanh - Ta Hai, Giao thong Newspaper.

2. Silver Prize: Life shrouded in polluted smoke in Hanoi's largest plastic waste recycling village. Author: Ngo Nhung, VTC News e-newspaper.

3. Bronze Award: The first breast milk bank in Hanoi: Giving a chance to live to premature, underweight and sick newborns. Author: Bui Cuong Quyet, Vietnam News Agency.

NEWS CATEGORY

1. Gold Prize: Scene of the horrific flash flood in Ky Son District (Nghe An) that occurred in the early morning of October 2, 2022. Authors Pham Duc - Khanh Hoan, Thanh Nien Newspaper.

2. Silver Award: SU-30MK2 fires explosives, lighting up the sky at the opening ceremony of the National Defense Exhibition. Authors Tien Tuan - Manh Quan - Huu Nghi, Dan Tri Electronic Newspaper.

3. Bronze Award: Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz visits the Cu Chi tunnels. Author: Vo Hoang Trieu, Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper.

SPORTS CATEGORY

1. Gold Award: Player Huynh Nhu dribbled past the goalkeeper of the Thai women's football team to score the only goal in the women's football final, helping the women's football team successfully defend the Gold Medal at the 31st SEA Games and win the SEA Games for the 7th time. Author Tran Thanh Hai, Nhan Dan Newspaper.

2. Silver Prize: Pride of Vietnam. Author Le Thuy Nguyen, Nhan Dan Newspaper.

3. Bronze Prize: Thai ethnic boy won gold medal in men's road cycling time trial at Sea Games 31. Author: Luu Trong Dat, Vietnam News Agency in Hoa Binh.

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Source: https://www.congluan.vn/gala-bao-chi-2023--trao-giai-anh-khoanh-khac-bao-chi-2022-ton-vinh-ban-linh-dan-than-lan-toa-suc-sang-tao-post274740.html