HÀ NỘI — Vietnam News Agency’s Thể Thao và Văn Hóa (Sport & Culture) daily has announced nominations for the annual prize Bùi Xuân Phái – For The Love of Hà Nội.
Ten official nominations will compete in the categories Work Prize, Idea Prize and Job Prize. The nominations this season represent a balance between tradition and modernity.
Launched in August 2008 on the occasion of the 88th anniversary of the birth of artist Bùi Xuân Phái (1920-88), the award is an initiative of Sport and Culture daily and the artist's family.
The award aims to honour authors, works, jobs and ideas that show a love for Hà Nội.
The Work Prize category has three nominations, including Một Thời Hà Nội Hát (Hà Nội Sings In Time) by Nguyễn Trương Quý; Kim Liên Một Thuở (Kim Liên In The Past) by Nguyễn Công Chiến; and Hà Nội Quán Xá Phố Phường (Hà Nội – Streetlife) by Uông Triều.
“We selected nominations for the Work Prize based on their research, not for literary reasons,” said poet Bằng Việt, chairman of the jury board. “The best literary works of the year are honoured by the writer associations. Therefore, the nomination of Bùi Xuân Phái Prize must show a love of authors for Hà Nội.”
The Job Prize has received three nominations. The Hà Nội Urban Sketch Group, one of the nominees, has launched a book titled Tập Thể Cũ Hà Nội: Ký Họa và Hồi Ức (Hà Nội’s Old Living Quarter – Sketches And Memory). The second nominee includes activities of Hà Nội and the entire community that promote the image of Hà Nội as a city of peace.
The category's third nominee is a proposal from the Hà Nội Culture, Sports and Tourism Department to the Hà Nội People's Committee to restore the former name of what is now called the Hà Nội Post and Telecommunication Company (which was named by VNPT Hà Nội). The former name of the building, which is located near Hoàn Kiếm Lake, was the Hà Nội Post Office.
The Idea Prize includes the Tô Lịch River Refreshment project; the Formula One Race complex and F1 organisation in 2020; and A New Image for a Traditional Market in Hà Nội.
“Hanoians do not run after the new and then forget the old,” said Việt. "They always want to intertwine new and old and the traditional and modern together.”
As usual, the Grand Prize will be announced on the day of the awards ceremony which will take place on August 28. — VNS