The competition, jointly organized by the Embassy New Zealand and Vietnam’s online newspaper Vnexpress, aims to increase interest and knowledge about New Zealand and its relationship with Vietnam. It was also part of the Embassy’s activities celebrating the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations and friendship between New Zealand and Vietnam.
The first prize which is accompanied with a vacation to New Zealand for two people, was given to Nguyen Thanh Hang for her entry “Magical Dream”. “The prize is such a nice surprise for me! I still think that I am in the middle of my magical dream. I have never been to New Zealand before but in my eyes New Zealand is a very green and peaceful country. It will be a ‘haven’ for my parents to visit”, she said.
Over just three weeks, more than 200 articles, videos, poems and photos about many different aspects of New Zealand were submitted to Vnexpress and the New Zealand Embassy Hanoi for the competition. The entries included works showcasing New Zealand’s people, culture, nature, education system and tourism.
New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam Haike Manning said: “We received a great number of quality entries which really underscored the strong interest in and knowledge about New Zealand and the relationship between New Zealand and Vietnam. It was amazing that we had so many entries from people that had never even visited New Zealand.”
Ambassador Manning also expressed his thanks to the participants for telling their own interesting stories about New Zealand and supporting the Embassy’s efforts to increase knowledge and understanding between the two countries. He hoped that the competition would result in increased people-to-people links between New Zealand and Vietnam, including in tourism and education.
The two second prize winners were Nguyen Tran Duong Minh with his entry “Knighton school with memories” and Doan Thien Hoa Nghiem with “I love New Zealand”.
The two third prizes went to Vu Dieu Huong with “My story” and Truong Thi Bich Chung with “A dream of exploration”.
This is the second time the New Zealand Embassy has hosted the “New Zealand, New Horizon” competition in cooperation with Vnexpress.
