Attending the ceremony were comrades: General Secretary To Lam; Politburo member, Standing member of the Secretariat, Head of the Central Inspection Commission Tran Cam Tu; Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Organization Commission, Head of the Steering Committee for the Golden Hammer and Sickle Award Le Minh Hung.

Also attending were members of the Politburo, members of the Secretariat, members of the Party Central Committee; leaders of central departments, ministries, branches and organizations; comrade Nguyen Khac Than, Secretary of Thai Binh Provincial Party Committee, leaders of a number of localities, representatives of news agencies, newspapers, authors and groups of authors whose works were awarded the 9th Golden Hammer and Sickle Award - 2024.

Party and State leaders and delegates attended the award ceremony.

Comrade Nguyen Khac Than, Provincial Party Secretary and delegates attended the award ceremony.

According to the Organizing Committee, by the time of closing the submission of entries for the Golden Hammer and Sickle Award, the standing agency of the award had received a total of 2,544 works, an increase of 328 works (14.8%) compared to 2023. The works participating in the Golden Hammer and Sickle Award - 2024 in central and local press agencies continued to be rich in topics and genres and were present in all provinces and cities across the country. Most of the works closely followed hot issues, outstanding events, and key tasks of the political system and the country. Many works deeply reflected the current issues of Party building and rectification work, which are the situation and results over the past 4 years of implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress along with the resolutions of the Party Congresses at all levels for the 2020-2025 term and the resolutions of the 13th Central Executive Committee; actively and proactively preparing for Party congresses at all levels for the 2025-2030 term towards the 14th National Party Congress, new and higher requirements for Party building and rectification and the political system with breakthrough tasks and solutions in socio-economic development, Party building and the political system. In addition, many works have discovered and pointed out shortcomings, limitations, and "bottlenecks" in implementing the 10-year Socio-Economic Development Plan 2021-2030 and in implementing the 6 key tasks of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress. Some works mention current pressing issues, have high social criticism and combativeness...

The new feature in the content of the press works participating in the Golden Hammer and Sickle Award - 2024 is that they vividly and promptly reflect the events and political activities of the Party such as the 9th and 10th Central Conferences and the resolutions of the Central Executive Committee (term XIII), creating a lively forum on issues such as summarizing the Party building work of the entire term and the implementation of the Party Charter, summarizing Directive No. 35-CT/TW, dated May 30, 2019 of the 12th Politburo and implementing Directive No. 35-CT/TW, dated June 14, 2024 of the 13th Politburo on Party congresses at all levels towards the 14th National Congress of the Party with some new points; on the situation, results of innovation and determination to complete the 10-year socio-economic development plan 2021-2030 and the efforts of the entire political system to create a breakthrough to complete socio-economic targets in 2024; inspection, supervision and enforcement of Party discipline; on the direction and proactiveness in preparing personnel for party congresses at all levels towards the 14th National Party Congress...

After General Secretary To Lam wrote a number of articles expressing the guiding ideology and strategic thinking for the Party to lead the country into a new era - the era of national growth, he inspired many issues and topics for journalists to think about and create more works reflecting the new vision and spirit in the work of leading, directing, and operating socio-economic development, ensuring national defense, security and foreign affairs, building the Party and the political system, and continuing to improve the Party's leadership and governing capacity.

The final jury met, discussed enthusiastically, democratically and voted by secret ballot, selecting the best works from 137 works in the final round to award prizes; including 6 A prizes, 12 B prizes, 18 C prizes, 10 thematic prizes and 40 consolation prizes. The work "Dialogue Democracy - Experience from East Asia" in the radio genre of Thai Binh Radio and Television Station made it to the final round.

The Steering Committee of the Award has reviewed and decided to select 7 party members as outstanding figures in the award-winning press works; decided to reward 3 units with creative media products and 12 units including the propaganda department, the organizing committee of the Party Committee, the press agency and the journalists' association with outstanding achievements in organizing, propagating and responding to the Golden Hammer and Sickle Award.

General Secretary To Lam speaks at the award ceremony.

Speaking at the award ceremony, General Secretary To Lam acknowledged, commended and highly appreciated the outstanding contributions of the national press in general and the press writing about Party building work in particular; congratulated the best authors, author groups, agencies and units that were selected for the final round and awarded the 9th Golden Hammer and Sickle Award - 2024.

The General Secretary assessed that this year's entries were not only rich in content but also demonstrated meticulous investment and creativity in form, reflecting comprehensively and with a focus on key issues of Party building. Many entries boldly addressed major, complex, and urgent issues of the country, Party building, and the political system.

In particular, in recent times, the press has done a very good job of propagating and widely disseminating the Party's major policies and orientations on the "New Era", on the revolution of streamlining the apparatus of the political system, on efforts and determination to handle the "bottlenecks" that are hindering the country's development... Thereby, the Vietnamese revolutionary press has truly integrated itself into the flow of practical life, clearly demonstrating its role in leading ideology and accompanying the Party's great steps, creating a spread of trust, responsibility, and aspirations for development among all classes of people. These contributions are not only the results of creative labor but also evidence of the mettle, intelligence, and social responsibility of the press team in carrying out its historical mission.

General Secretary To Lam emphasized that the country's achievements in nearly 40 years of implementing the renovation process are great. The new era is opening up a bright future for the nation. The new era also sets new and higher requirements for the revolutionary press, requiring the press to develop accordingly, grow together with the nation, and be worthy of the professional, humane, and modern press. The public expects more and more writers and press works that are truly excellent and of great stature, conveying the great changes of the Party and the nation, and having high political and ideological values. 2025 is a key year for us to be determined to successfully implement the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, the year of holding Party Congresses at all levels towards the 14th National Party Congress, and also a year with many major holidays for the country and the nation. We also celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day. The most important task in 2025 is to successfully complete the set targets and plans, creating the foundation and premise for a breakthrough in the next term. In that context, the press writing about Party building needs to actively contribute to helping our Party become increasingly clean and strong, on par with its historical tasks and missions to lead the nation to development in the new era. The press must closely follow the political tasks and major issues of the Party and the country to focus on comprehensive, profound, effective, and focused propaganda.

At the award ceremony, comrade Le Minh Hung, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Organization Committee, Head of the Steering Committee of the Golden Hammer and Sickle Award launched the 10th National Press Award on Party building - 2025.

Nguyen Hinh (synthesis)

Photo: Phuong Hoa (VNA)