The event was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense General Phan Van Giang; Vice President of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh, and representatives of the General Staff, the General Department of Political Affairs (GDP), the Viet Nam Coast Guard, relevant agencies, ministries, sectors and schools whose students participated in the contest.
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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense General Phan Van Giang and Vice N.A. President Nguyen Thi Thanh present first prize to Bach Long Vi team from Hai Phong. |
Speaking at the ceremony, GDP’s Deputy Chairman Sr. Lt. Gen. Do Xuan Tung said that the contest helps students better understand, appreciate and develop a stronger sense of responsibility toward the national sea and islands.
Initiated by the Viet Nam Coast Guard and first organized in 2013, the contest has attracted millions of students over more than a decade, helping foster patriotism, national pride, awareness of sovereignty and civic responsibility. In 2024, the Minister of National Defense approved a plan to expand the contest nationwide, ushering it into a new stage of development with a more systematic, large-scale and unified approach.
The 2025–2026 school year marked the first year the contest has been implemented under the plan, attracting more than 470,000 participants. Beyond deepening students’ understanding of the national sea and islands, the contest helped turn that awareness into affection and responsibility. Students’ entries, conveying messages of love, trust and gratitude from the mainland to those serving at sea, also provided encouragement to officers and service members performing their duties on the front lines.
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General Phan Van Giang, delegates, and contestants at the event |
On behalf of GDP’s leadership, Gen. Tung commended the Viet Nam Coast Guard for its pro-active and creative coordination with agencies, units and localities in organizing the contest. He called for continued coordination with relevant agencies, localities, the education and training sector, and press and media organizations to effectively implement the plan for the 2024-2030 period.
He also urged organizers to adopt more engaging formats suited to different age groups and localities, ensuring that each contest season brings substantive changes in students’ understanding, feelings, sense of responsibility and actions, thereby contributing to the building of a “people’s heart posture” in safeguarding the national sovereignty over sea and islands.
The CMC, MND, and GDP hoped that the message of “I Love National Sea and Islands” would extend beyond the contest and become a shared sentiment and responsibility among the Vietnamese people toward the nation’s sacred sea and islands, contributing to the development of Viet Nam as a strong maritime nation and the firm protection of the country from the sea.
At the event, the organizing committee presented the first prize to the Bach Long Vi team from Hai Phong city; two second prizes to the Blue Sea team from Lam Dong province and the Sea Waves team from Ho Chi Minh City; and three third prizes to the Me Island team from Thanh Hoa province, the Starfish team from Quang Ngai province and the Sea’s Eye team from Ca Mau province.
Translated by Tran Hoai