Reading culture ambassadors contribute to promoting love for books

Launched in 2019, the Reading Culture Ambassador Contest was held with the preliminary and final rounds. In the first year, nearly 540,000 students from 4,379 schools participated in the preliminary round. The localities of Nghe An, Gia Lai, Hai Phong, Can Tho, Ha Nam, Phu Tho, and Bac Giang, as well as Hue University, Hanoi National University of Education 2 and the Banking Academy of Vietnam, launched the contest early resulting in many good-quality exams.

Notably, also in the first year, visually impaired students from Nguyen Dinh Chieu Secondary School (Hanoi) overcame many difficulties to actively participate in the contest. With a strong following, in 2020, the contest’s scale was expanded with the participation of units under the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Public Security and the Vietnam Blind Association. In 2022, just five months after launching and implementation, the contest attracted more than 1.2 million students from nearly 7,869 educational institutions.

Each locality has its way of spreading the significance of the contest. Responding to the Reading Culture Ambassador Contest for four years, from 2019 to 2023, Nghe An Province attracted the largest number of participants in the country, with impressive achievements. The province won 12 collective prizes and 178 individual prizes at the provincial preliminary round, as well as two collective prizes, and 42 individual prizes at the final national round.

Right from the first edition of the contest, Phu Tho Provincial Library received a large number of participants and entries with good quality. Meanwhile, Bac Giang Province was recognised as one of the best organisers of the local preliminary round for three consecutive years (2019-2021). The contest has promoted students' creativity and imagination and become a useful playground and a forum for students to share effective reading experiences.

It can be seen that the Reading Culture Ambassador Contest has brought many positive meanings, not only creating a reading movement and the love for books but also a journey of sharing love. As the focal point for implementing the Reading Culture Ambassador Contest for blind students nationwide, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Blind Association Dinh Viet Anh acknowledged, that the contest helps blind children join a large playground for students across the country to exchange, learn, and improve knowledge and skills.

Children have the opportunity to share good books and about the role of reading and lifelong learning, as well as exchange experiences on effective reading methods. As a result, they can gain more will and strength to overcome difficulties.

In the next phase, in addition to perfecting the rules and innovating organisational forms and methods, Kieu Thuy Nga, Director of the Library Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, the Reading Culture Ambassador Contest needs to continue to be held on a national scale, focusing on improving quality, innovating content and having breakthroughs. The expansion of the number of participants will contribute to the sustainable development of a widespread reading movement in society.