The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union’s Central Committee held a ceremony in Hanoi on Friday to present prizes for a press contest. Vice chairman of the Commission on Ideological and Cultural Affairs Dao Duy Quat attended the event.

Paintings on the themes of history, landscape, human beings, and daily life in cities and rural areas help introduce the Japanese public to Vietnam’s cultural beauty, as well as the country’s unique art of lacquer painting.

The Agency of Francophone Universities (AUF) in the Asia-Pacific region organised a ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City on March 23 to present prizes to winners of the annual writing contest entitled "Travelling in the Francophone Community".

The gifts reflect the feelings of staff at Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) towards People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) personnel stationed in the archipelago and will help them access the latest information from the mainland through radio transmissions.

The Vietnam-Denmark Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF) will be established on April 7, the Danish Embassy announced on March 22.

Entrants in the contest have to honestly reflect Vietnamese social life and the beauty of its land and people.

Ethnic minority people in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, where more than 3,800 sets of gongs are being kept, hold their gong competitions and gong festival regularly at local and regional levels.

On behalf of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations, the Vietnamese Ambassador to Romania Le Manh Hung recently presented the badge “For peace and friendship among nations” to president of the Professional Writers Association of Romania Ogen Uricaru and Prof and Dr C.Chiroparag of the Lasi University.

Fifty-four photos featuring the ancient Cambodian sculptures of Angkor Vat and Angkor Thom by Vietnamese painter Bang Lam were exhibited Hanoi on March 21.

The Phu Tho provincial People’s Committee has approved a plan to organise the Hung Kings Festival from April 3-7 (March 6-10 according to the Lunar Calendar).

More than 100 objects and pictures from southern ethnic groups such as the Cham, Khmer, K’hor, and Sedang are on display in northern Lang Son province.

The Southeast Asian Publishers' Association and the General Consulates of the US and Malaysia in Ho Chi Minh City are joining 26 foreign publishing houses in a book festival in the city.

A major project to build the second Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum is being set up, with assistance from experts of the Moscow Commission for Architecture and Construction, Russian Federation.

This will be the first time such a program will be held with the aim of encouraging learning and scientific research movements among students. It will also highlight students who obtained the highest marks at university graduation exams or bagged gold medals at the International Olympiads in 2005.

American artist Arlene Shechet will visit Vietnam from March 20-24 under the framework of an art performance programme, organised by the US State Department.

The Ministry of Culture and Information has assigned the Performing Art Department to build a scenario and an art performance programme for Gala Dinner in service of the upcoming the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) 2006, which will be held from November 12-19 in Vietnam.

Director Ngo Quang Hai's Chuyen Cua Pao (Pao's Story) received the Viet Nam Cinematography Association's Golden Kite for best film. The award was presented by Minister of Culture and Information Pham Quang Nghi at a ceremony in Ha Noi on March 18.

The Okinawa-Hoi An Co. Ltd. on March 17 inaugurated a fine art culture centre in Hoi An Town, central Quang Nam province.

The Vietnam Fine Arts Museum will introduce 150 works of art from a Roma Punto Uno collection of contemporary arts by 71 Italian artists from March 19-27.

The 2006 Golden Kite award ceremony will be held at the Quan Ngua Sports Palace in Hanoi on March 18. This is an annual event of the Vietnam Cinematography Association.

Four Vietnamese feature and documentary films were screened on March 15 at the 28th International Women’s Film Festival, which is currently taking place in Paris, France.

Vietnam won 14 co-prizes at the 66th Asahi Shimbun International Photographic Prize Competition in Japan.Vietnam sent 1,107 works by 181 artists to the competition.

A book collection that includes 16 epic narratives from four ethnic minority groups in Tay Nguyen (the Central Highlands) was released in Ho Chi Minh City on March 15.

Delegates from 14 provinces in the central region gathered in Hanoi on Wednesday to discuss the results of drawing a map of Cham cultural heritage and orientations to implement a project on preserving Cham culture in Vietnam.

Around 2000 foreign and local visitors participated in the Legendary My Son Festival, which was held at the My Son relic area on March 13.

Vietnam will hold special cultural exchange activities to mark International Francophone Day (March 20) to demonstrate its strong commitment to the Francophone community.

The Mong Ethnic Cultural Festival is scheduled for the National Day (Sept. 2) this year in the northern mountainous province of Son La, according to the Ministry of Culture and Information.

The Vietnam Dancing Arts Association is expected to allocate VND1.5 billion for four new ballets, which highlight the courageous combative spirit of the Vietnamese people in their struggle for national liberation.

Twenty giant masks made by Vietnamese artisans will be hung at the Windsor Plaza Hotel for the first Carnival in HCM City on March 17-18.

105 films have registered to compete for the Vietnam Cinematography Association's prestigious Dieu Vang (Golden Kite) prize, according to the organising board.