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| From left, Vietnam News Agency General Director Vu Viet Trang and Jury Chairman, poet Tran Dang Khoa congratulate "Cricket Knight" songwriter Pham Tuyen and his daughter, Pham Hong Tuyen, at the De Men Awards ceremony in Hanoi on May 28, 2025. (Photo: VNA) |
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – The De Men (Cricket) Awards for Children, which celebrate outstanding works by and for children, was officially launched on March 26, inviting literary and artistic works, or drafts of such works, to compete.
According to the organisers, any work created, completed or published between January 1, 2025 and April 25, 2026, will be eligible for entry.
First introduced in 2020 by the The thao va Van Hoa (Sports & Culture) newspaper under the Vietnam News Agency, the De Men Awards draw inspiration from “De Men Phieu Luu Ky” (Adventures of a Cricket), the celebrated literary classic by To Hoai.
True to this spirit, the awards honour outstanding contributions across creative fields – from literature and the arts to entertainment; from traditional publishing formats to contemporary digital platforms.
In the broader context of Vietnam’s nationwide implementation of the Politburo’s Resolution No. 80‑NQ/TW on cultural development, the awards this year set a long‑term ambition: to help build a cultural and artistic ecosystem for Vietnamese children in the digital era.
At the outset, the awards will focus on transforming prize‑winning works with strong potential into cultural products capable of reaching wide audiences. This initiative aims to make practical contributions to Vietnam’s growing cultural industries, with particular emphasis on children’s cinema. Such efforts align directly with Resolution 80, which identifies priority areas for development, including cinema, music, fine arts, cultural tourism, design, fashion, traditional crafts, video games, cuisine and digital content.
The resolution also underscores the importance of “valuing, honouring, and unleashing creativity while fostering a favourable environment for experts, intellectuals, talented artists, and exceptionally gifted students to be nurtured, trained, inspired and able to contribute and grow.”
In line with these objectives, the De Men Awards not only discover and celebrate cultural and artistic talents, serving as both a platform and launchpad for authors and works by children and for children, but also ignite creativity among young people, promote a culture of reading, and help build a rich and healthy cultural environment for the nation’s future generations.
The awards contribute to the overarching goal of “building comprehensively developed Vietnamese people” while ensuring “equal access to cultural values for disadvantaged groups”, with children at the heart of this mission.
The closing ceremony and awards presentation are scheduled for International Children’s Day on June 1, a fitting occasion to celebrate creativity and childhood.
One Grand Prize – the Hiep Si De Men (Cricket Knight) Award – will be bestowed upon an individual who has devoted their life and career to children. Alongside, the Khat Vong De Men (Cricket Desire) Awards will recognise fresh creative explorations across diverse forms and generations of authors.
Over six seasons, four Cricket Knight Awards have been conferred to writers Nguyen Nhat Anh (2020), Tran Duc Tien (2023), Ly Lan (2024), and songwriter Pham Tuyen (2025), together with 27 Cricket Desire Awards./.
