Vietnam Talents Awards 2013 was launched in HCM City on May 8 and has solicited entries in more categories than in the previous years.

The launch event for Vietnamese Talents Awards 2013  in HCM City

The launch included the participation of Pham Huy Hoan, Editor-in-Chief of Dantri/Dtinews, the head of the award’s organisation board, Bui Quoc Viet from the main sponsor Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), Dr. Nguyen Long, General Secretary of the Vietnam Informatics Association as well as representatives of several other sponsors.

This year’s event, the ninth to be held in Vietnam, will include the new category of environment, as well as the three previously included categories of information technology, applied sciences, and health.

In the IT category, finalists still include two groups, products which have great potential and those that have been successfully applied. The first prize for each will be rewarded VND100 million (USD4,774), second prize winners will get VND50 million (USD2,387), and third prize will be VND30 million (USD1,432), along with gifts from sponsors.

Awards draw publicity

The organisation board also decided to expand the contest into mobile devices in order to encourage innovation.

Pham Huy Hoan said, “We believe that the expansion of the awards will make the contest more exciting and bring honour to talented young minds in the country."

The applied science category would draw innovative products from a wide range of areas, such as mathematics, mechanics, physics, chemistry, biology and earth sciences, which have proven applications. The winner of each will receive a prize worth VND100 million.

Pham Huy Hoan, Editor-in-Chief of Dantri/Dtinews online newspaper, heads the organising board

For the health sector, awards would be granted to authors or groups of authors that have excellent research works on healthcare that have been successfully applied. First prize for this category will be VND100 million.

This year's awards ceremony will include an exhibition of products that were sent to the Vietnamese Talents Awards in the previous years.

Last year's winners

The main sponsor was VNPT, but there were a number of others, such as Vingroup, An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBank), Vina Megastar Group Joint Stock Company and Jetstar Pacific.

The panel of judges will work from September 1 through November 19 to decide on the most outstanding entries.

The awards ceremony to be held on November 20 and broadcast live on VTV.