Renowned painter Bui Xuan Phai (Photo coutersy of Bui Xuan Phai's family )
Hanoi (VNA) – The TheThao & Van Hoa (Sports and Culture) daily of the Vietnam News Agency onAugust 5 announced ten nominations for the 12th “Bui Xuan Phai: For Love ofHanoi” Awards.
The awards were initiated in 2008by the The Thao & Van Hoa daily and Bui Xuan Phai’s family. The awards havebeen organised annually by the Hanoi People’s Committee and sponsored by theThe Thao & Van Hoa newspaper and Bui Xuan Phai Fund to honour painter BuiXuan Phai (1920-1988), a founder of modern art in Vietnam.
Serving the mission ofdiscovering and honouring significant contributions to the capital city for morethan a decade, it is classified into four categories: Grand Prize, Idea Prize,Job Prize, and Work Prize, each honouring a winner.
Between September 2018 and July2019, a list of more than 40 individuals, works, ideas and activities meetingthe awards’ criteria have been completed for submission to the judges’ council.
This year, the council consistsof poet Bang Viet, former chairman of the Hanoi Literature and ArtsAssociation; journalist Ho Quang Loi, Permanent Vice Chairman of the VietnamJournalists’ Association; historian and National Asembly deputy Duong TrungQuoc, Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Vietnam Association ofHistorical Science; journalist Ngo Ha Thai, former Deputy General Director ofthe Vietnam News Agency; Prof, Dr. architect Hoang Dao Kinh; journalist Le XuanThanh, Editor-in-Chief of the The Thao & Van Hoa newspaper.
Head of the council poet BangViet said nostalgia is a highlight of the 2019 nominations.
Accordingly, there are threenominations for the Work Prize. They are three books entitled “Hanoi mot thoihat” by Nguyen Truong Quy, which introduces Hanoi’s lifestyle in the 1947-1954 periodthrough Doan Chuan’s music; “Kim Lien mot thuo” by Vu Cong Chien – a memory ofHanoi’s apartments in the past; and “Hanoi quan xa pho Phuong” by Uong Trieu,which use words to depict the capital city’s cuisine.
The Idea Prize also sees threenominations. They include the determination to revive To Lich River of Hanoiauthorities and local people, and a project on building the Formula 1 race andhosting Formula 1 Grand Prix in Hanoi for the first time in April 2020. Thelast nomination is a training-research project on giving Hanoi’s traditional wetmarkets a new face led by architect Steve Davies.
Three other nominations have beennamed for the Job Prize. The first one belongs to a Hanoi sketching group, whohas worked to keep memories of the capital city through their paintings. Thesecond is a host of activities by the Hanoi authorities and local community topromote the image of the capital as a city of peace. Hanoi was recognised as‘City for Peace’ by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganisation (UNESCO) in July 16, 1999. The last one features the efforts tohelp the “Hanoi Post Office” building near Hoan Kiem Lake regain its old name.
The only nomination for and also thewinner of the Grand Prize is kept secret. The prize is the most important awardgranted to an individual who has devoted his or her life to the development ofHanoi and has a career that is strongly connected to the capital.
Last year, the Grand Prize wentto 96-year-old Nguyen Ba Dam. Dam, born in Moc village, Giap Nhat, used toserve as a history teacher at Phan Dinh Phung high school. He was a good friendof Bui Xuan Phai and was an inspiration for 242 of Phai’s portrait sketches. Heis renowned for his collection of ancient coins and artist belongings.-VNA
VNA
