HÀ NỘI — Ten nominees for the 5th Dế Mèn awards have been announced, with a diverse and exciting line up.

The hopefuls include poetry, comic, animation and literature, selected from 135 submitted works, pared down following two rounds of judging. 

The top ten finalists include the latest work by 14-year old Lê Sinh Hùng's draft of comic Thư Viện Kỳ Bí (Mysterious Library), the six-volume Ogo Code by Belgium-based writer Kiều Bích Hương and veteran writer Lý Lan's Tự Truyện Một Con Heo (Autobiography of a Pig). Lan has had a prolific career, writing poems, short stories, essays, novels and also working as a translater. She translated Harry Potter into Vietnamese.

Initiated by the Vietnam News Agency’s Thể Thao Văn Hóa (Culture & Sport) newspaper in 2020, the Dế Mèn Award aims to celebrate the best works by and for children. The award title is named after the main character in Dế Mèn Phiêu Lưu Ký (Diary of a Cricket) by Tô Hoài. 

Dế Mèn Phiêu Lưu Ký has been reprinted many times and into 37 languages, including English, French, Thai and Russian.

The awards include one grand prize, the Hiệp Sĩ Dế Mèn (Cricket Night) trophy, together with several others for Khát Vọng Dế Mèn (Cricket Design). The award ceremony is expected to be held on International Children's Day June 1 in Hanoi. — VNS