Nguyen Duc Minh Hoang received the First Prize in the 8th “Young Francophone Reporters 2023" contest |
Minh Hoang said that he was really happy to once again be honored at the “Francophone Young Reporters 2023" contest because two years back, Hoang was also awarded the highest prize in the contest for writing a story relevant to Hue culture.
This year Hoang's work titled "Ton Nu Anh Tuyet - the fairy of Hue, with a heart filled with cultural love and humane value" entirely convinced the contest jury. That is the story of a lady who not only preserves cultural values by making incense but also establishes a fund to support and help poor patients in difficult circumstances.
Incorporated into the article, the message that Hoang desires to convey to everyone is that people create culture and culture also shapes people. Hue in particular and Vietnam in general not only have unique cultural beauty but also the beauty of human love, mutual affection rich in human love and compassion.
Hoang recalls that upon hearing about the contest theme "Francophone community and shared culture", he promptly remembered the character of old lady Tuyet. It was an old lady who left an impression on this young man 4 years back. While accidentally taking photos of Thuy Xuan incense craft village near Vong Canh Hill, as if by chance, Hoang stopped at old lady Tuyet's incense and souvenir stall. Right from the first contact, Hoang felt that she was a typical Hue and even-tempered woman with a very appealing and inspiring way of talking.
Talking with Mrs. Tuyet herself and through many channels, Hoang learned that Mrs. Tuyet sells incense to raise funds for pediatric cancer patients. "From witnessing the development of the incense village, the cultural and humane values she brings, I decided to convey this story to more people," Hoang stated the reason why he chose the character old lady Tuyet to write the article and said it took about 2 weeks to finalize the entry.
For Hoang, the enormous difficulty in starting the work is to connect elements, personal information, and experiences to fit the given theme and not to be too rambling. There are many things a writer desires to include in his article to express more emotions and provide information, but conciseness is Hoang's priority over writing the article.
“What impressed me is her patience and hard work. Despite her old age and weak health, she enthusiastically supports visitors. Everyone who talks will see her positive energy," Hoang added.
With the experience of a person who has just graduated from the French Department (University of Foreign Languages, Hue University), Hoang finalized the article in a concise and easy-to-understand manner, thus creating an impression on the readers and jury.
Hoang deems that Vietnamese culture and Francophone culture go hand in hand. The cultural activity programs of Thua Thien Hue Province also receive a lot of attention, companionship, and sponsorship from the French government. This year's theme is also an opportunity for young people to demonstrate their understanding of two countries and two languages. The French-speaking community is a diverse community of different countries and cultural sharing between countries is of crucial importance, including cultural interference between countries. For the young generation of Vietnam, such occasions are also a way for you to promote and introduce national culture to other world communities.
Therefore, the story of Hue culture is not just a passion but deeply exploited by Hoang from the perspective of young people. “Choosing characters and themes relevant to Hue is also a way for me to respect the place where I was born and also a way for me to introduce Hue with the greatest pride. This is also how I learn more, know more, and share more," Hoang humbly said.
Hoang added that his desire is to contribute and join hands with everyone to further spread Hue's values of culture and people with friendliness and hospitality. And with his current job in the media field, Hoang hopes to make more contributions to that spread.
“Young Francophone Reporters” is an annual Francophone journalism contest organized by Le Courrier du Vietnam Newspaper (under the Vietnam News Agency) with the sponsorship of the Regional Office for Asia-Pacific (ROAP) of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), with the support from the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), the Embassies of France, Morocco, Romania, Switzerland, Canada, the Wallonie-Bruxelles Delegation in Vietnam, the French Institute in Vietnam, University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH) and Image Travel&Events Tourism Company. The contest also enables contestants to show their efforts and initiative through their French writing skills, thereby conveying the vitality of this language.