Pham Quoc Hung, head of the Library Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the contest draws the participation of nearly 1 million students each year, becoming a forum kindling a love for reading among the young generation.

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Pham Quoc Hung, Head of the Library Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, addresses the launch ceremony.

The contest, themed “Aspiration for National Development,” aimed to foster contestants’ thinking skills and creativity. They are encouraged to create their works via paintings, poems, short stories and stage plays, among others.

An online contest to introduce books was launched last year amid complicated developments of COVID-19, which received about 3,000 entries from 67,000 contestants in just two months. The entries gained a large amount of views even after the contest and served as reviews on thousands of books.

2022 marks the first year that the contest has reached out to overseas Vietnamese. Entries can be submitted starting April 1, according to the organising board.

An array of activities was held at the launch ceremony, including handing over books to some libraries, seminars on reading culture and exchanges with winners of the previous editions of the contests.

Source: VNA