VOV wins two ABU prizes 2021

A total of 17 out of more than 300 radio and television nominations have been selected to receive the awards in various categories ranging from news reporting to documentary and drama.  

VOV won two official prizes: “Water for life” in the News Reporting category and “Never Give In” in the Radio ABU Perspective Awards category.

“Water For Life” tells a story of people living in Tua Chua district in the north-western province of Dien Bien that faces severe water scarcity. Even when the dry season is over, children and adults remain thirsty.

Climate change, coupled with an ever-shrinking area of forest caused by deforestation, has led to clean water necessary for daily life and production in Tua Chua become increasingly scarce.

The local government has constructed 114 water supply works over the years, although they are not enough to meet the needs of local people because the upstream water supply has dried up.

Children are the most affected by the lack of clean water, which causes malnutrition, diseases to spread, and in the worst case, death.

The report was produced by a group of reporters of the News and Current Affairs Channel (VOV1) in May when tens of thousands of local people were facing water shortages. The report also warned about the necessity of protecting children’s right to water.

Meanwhile, “Never Give In” tells a story about a mass suicide of three young girls from three different cities sharing an apartment in Phu Dien ward in Hanoi that rocked Vietnam on December 28, 2019. All three girls had been suffering from depression and had previously attempted suicide several times.

One of the group had been the fiancée of Duong Quang Huy, a 24-year-old shipper working in Hanoi. For the past six years, Huy has also been suffering from the same disease. He has always walked on the fine line between life and death.

But in Vietnam, Huy's story is not unique. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that Vietnam is home to approximately eight million people suffering from depression, accounting for about 10% of the population.

“Never Give In” dwells on Huy’s tragedy, in which he faced daily and hourly struggles against all the stresses and pain caused by depression. Huy used to live with suicidal thoughts, but he has tried to overcome it. He hoped that people suffering from this disease will never give in to it, just like how he gets through every day.

ABU annually selects best radio and television works for its prizes that promote the excellence in content production to raise educational and cultural standards.

Vietnam Television (VTV) and the Voice of Vietnam Radio (VOV) are full members of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.