Speaking at the award ceremony, President Vo Van Thuong hailed the role of cultural activists and creators, and artists in preserving and developing Vietnam's culture.

He affirmed that Vietnam is taking a steady step forward to a new stage of development, which requires the strong promotion of the strength of Vietnamese people and culture - a driving force and important internal resource for sustainable development.

Facing the current challenges, the country needs more works of high ideological and artistic value which reflect the vivid reality of the social life, achievements of the Doi Moi (Renewal) process in all fields, the beauty of the Vietnamese people, and great aspirations of the whole nation, stressed Thuong.

The State leader also asked ministries, agencies, sectors, and localities to continue to be deeply aware of the role of culture, literature, art and artists in the development of literature and arts, and in building the Vietnamese culture; promptly honour and praise artists with great achievements and contributions to the country; and attach importance to establishing a democratic environment for artists to create their works, as well as taking care of their lives.

It is necessary to research and build effective mechanisms to publicise excellent works at home and abroad, the leader emphasised.

President Thuong presented the Ho Chi Minh Awards to 16 authors and co-authors; while Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man, President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Do Van Chien, and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung granted the State Awards to 112 authors and co-authors.

This time, seven veteran photographers of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) were honoured. Chu Chi Thanh was granted the Ho Chi Minh Awards; Nguyen Huu Loc, Pham Van Thinh, Dinh Quang Thanh, and Tran Van Tuan with the State Awards; while Vo An Khanh and Nguyen Dang were posthumously presented with the Ho Chi Minh and State Awards respectively./. VNA