The awards were launched by the Vietnam Association for Victims of AO (VAVA) in early 2020.

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US aircraft spray chemicals during the war in Vietnam. (File photo)

Entries were submitted by both professional and amateur writers such as reporters from press agencies, members of the armed forces, and overseas Vietnamese.

The eldest contestant is an 81-year-old man in Thanh Xuan district of Hanoi.

Eighty outstanding entries have been chosen for the final round, which will select three first-place prizes, five second-place prizes, 10 third-place prizes, 15 consolation prizes, and some supplementary ones.

The award presentation ceremony is scheduled to take place around the 60th Vietnam AO/Dioxin Disaster Day (August 10).

From 1961-1971, the US troops sprayed more than 80 million litres of herbicides - 44 million litres of which were AO containing nearly 370 kilograms of dioxin - over southern Vietnam.

As a result, around 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the toxic chemical. Many of the victims have died, while millions of their descendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects.

Source: VNA