12 winners of the "Bui Xuan Phai - For the Love of Hanoi" award 2018. (photo: thethaovanhoa.vn)

The Grand Prize was given to teacher, collector, and researcher Nguyen Ba Dam, who has dedicated his life to promoting Hanoi’s lifestyle and culture. Anyone who knows him admires his profound knowledge, plain lifestyle, and elegant manner. He has written many books sharing his experience and views of Hanoi since the late 19^th century. 

Tteacher, collector, and researcher Nguyen Ba Dam.

Historian Duong Trung Quoc is the Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Historical Sciences and a member of the Bui Xuan Phai award jury board: “It’s difficult to talk about love. Society honors people’s dedication, passion, and wholeheartedness for Hanoi, their modest life and the characteristics of Hanoians. We selected a veteran for his many contributions to Hanoi.”   

Nguyen Ba Dam is finalizing his work “Hanoi in the past” for publication late this year. He plans to publish a book on Hanoi’s famous painters next year. 

The Work Prize is given to a poem collection “I have you” by Phan Vu, and a documentary entitled “Mon Hanoi” (My Hanoi) by Noel Poirier, former French Ambassador to Vietnam. Phan Vu is a poet, director, playwright, and painter. The “I have you” collection begins with a 443-verse poem divided into 24 cantos, which can be drawn into 24 paintings of Hanoi.

“Mon Hanoi” (My Hanoi) by Noel Poirier, former French Ambassador to Vietnam, is a documentary recounting the author’s experience of Hanoi. He said Hanoi has absorbed exotic values and acculturated them into its own.

The Idea Prize was awarded to a proposal aimed at preserving and developing the Vuon Chuoi archeological site by Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Van Huy, former Director of the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. Vuon Chuoi archeological site covers an area of 19,000 sqm in Hoai Duc district. Thousands of artifacts have been unearthed since 1969.

Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Van Huy

Mr. Huy said: “People in Vuon Chuoi were the first residents of Hanoi. It’s an invaluable asset of Hanoi. They were the first people settling in Hanoi about 3500 years ago.”

The winners of the Job Prize were the vault murals along Phung Hung pedestrian street and the handing over of two ancient anchors of the 15^th century to Hanoi by Quach Van Dich. Dich said: “The anchors were lifted from the Red river. I bought them from fishermen. They are memorabilia of Hanoi, the Red River, and trade activities of the past.”

The Phung Hung murals are the result of an art project to renovate the street of the same name and introduce art into urban areas, which began in August last year. Behind the project was the Hoan Kiem District People’s Committee, UN-Habitat and the Korea Foundation. The urban street art evokes memories of old Hanoi and traditional Vietnamese culture.