Particularly, the first prize went to Mai Khanh Ly with two articles “Comment les vendeurs ambulants vivent-ils pendant la crise du COVID-19? (How do street vendors earn a living during COVID-19?) and "Qu’ont fait les jeunes Vietnamiens pendant le confinement?" (What do young Vietnamese do during the social distancing period?”) The second prize, including a tablet and six-month free readership to Le Courrier du Vietnam, was presented to Nguyen Thi Ba Ninh with the article “COVID-19: La menace des déchets plastiques pour l’environnement!" (COVID-19: Threat of plastic waste to the environment!), while the third prize went to Le Thi Doan Trang with the article “Les diplômés de la saison COVID-19: une génération chancelante" (Graduates worry during the COVID-19 period).

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At the event

The contest was launched by Le Courrier du Vietnam, a weekly French language newspaper of the Vietnam News Agency, under the auspices of the Asia-Pacific Regional Office of the International Organization of the Francophonie; the embassies of France, Belgium, Morocco, Switzerland, and Canada; the Francophone University Agency (AUF); Wallonie-Bruxelles Mission in Hanoi; UNESCO Office in Hanoi; Hanoi Eye Hospital 2. It aimed to encourage French-speaking youths in Vietnam and foreign countries to write about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Vietnam and countries around the world as well as countries’ efforts in containing the diseases.

For three months, the organizers received 121 articles from 150 writers and groups of writers from different countries. The entries reflected the writers’ views on the pandemic and gave overviews on the COVID-19 epidemic situation in Vietnam and other countries around the world. Entries to the final round will be published in a special issue of the Le Courrier du Vietnam Newspaper which will be presented to embassies and Francophone organizations, universities at home and abroad, and all contestants.

At the event, the organizers also presented two consolation and other prizes to contestants.    

Translated by Song Anh