Winners of ‘Bui Xuan Phai – For Love of Hanoi’ announced

The Bui Xuan Phai Grand Prize has been awarded to Nguyen Ba Dam, a former history teacher at Phan Dinh Phung High School in Hanoi who has devoted his whole life to the Hanoian culture and lifestyle.

Winners at the awards ceremony (Photo: VNA)
Winners at the awards ceremony (Photo: VNA)

Born in Hanoi’s Moc village in 1922, Nguyen Ba Dam is a close friend of painter Bui Xuan Phai and many other well-known artists and writers.

He is also a collector of ancient coins and the author of two books, “Hanoi in olden days” and “Stories of Hanoi from late 19th and early 20th century”. He is currently completing the first draft of a new work titled "Hanoi in the past".

The two Best Work Prizes were awarded to poet Phan Vu and Noel Poirer, former French Ambassador to Vietnam for his documentary film “My Hanoi”.

The Idea Prize was given to Associate Professor Nguyen Van Huy and his partners.

The Bui Xuan Phai – For the Love of Hanoi Prize, as known by its full name, was named after painter Bui Xuan Phai (1920-1988), who had a great impact on modern Vietnamese fine arts and is renowned for his paintings of Hanoi’s Old Quarter.

The annual award honours people and their works, jobs and ideas in any field that carry a passionate love for the thousand-year-old capital city.