This year marked the 31st edition of the award in the Ho Chi Minh City Nhi Dong (Children) publication and the 27th edition in the Khan Quang Do publication of Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper.
Nhi Dong (Children) publication, a widely popular, long-running weekly educational publication tailored for preschool and primary school students; and Khan Quang Do (Red Scarf) young pioneer magazine are publications of Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper under the Ho Chi Minh City Press and Radio-Television Agency.
Attending the ceremony were Standing Vice Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Le Quoc Phong; General Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Press and Radio-Television Agency Le Van Minh; Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Education and Training Nguyen Bao Quoc; Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union and Chairwoman of the municipal Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneer Organization Council, Trinh Thi Hien Tran.
Representing the organizing body was journalist Nguyen Khac Van, Deputy General Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Press and Radio-Television Agency and Editor-in-Chief of Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper.
More than 500 education administrators, teachers, students, and representatives of sponsoring organizations also attended the ceremony.
Reviewing the past award season, journalist Nguyen Khac Cuong, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper, said the 2025-2026 academic year marked a significant milestone as Ho Chi Minh City expanded its administrative boundaries.
For the first time, the Le Quy Don Award attracted participation from students in Area 2 (formerly Binh Duong Province) and Area 3 (formerly Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province), as well as from a number of southern localities including Tay Ninh, Vinh Long and the central city of Da Nang. The latest season recorded a remarkable increase in the number of entries compared with previous academic years, with more than 1.3 million submissions from over 105,000 students at 520 primary and secondary schools.
The competition questions went beyond the pages of textbooks and reflected the pulse of everyday life. They not only helped students broaden their knowledge but also unlocked their potential, enabling them to gain confidence, better understand themselves, and foster their personal development, journalist Nguyen Khac Cuong said.
This year’s Le Quy Don Award honored nine top-performing students, one from each grade level. In addition, the Organizing Committee presented 18 second prizes, 26 third prizes, and 67 consolation prizes.
Notably, in recognition of the efforts and outstanding achievements of participating schools, 223 primary schools and 98 secondary schools were also presented with certificates of merit and prizes at the ceremony.
Speaking at the award ceremony, General Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Press and Radio-Television Agency, Le Van Minh, commended Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, and generations of teachers for organizing and developing the Le Quy Don Award into an engaging and meaningful educational platform, demonstrating effective coordination, cooperation and partnership between the press and the education sector.
After more than three decades of development, the Le Quy Don Award has not only established its reputation as a long-standing educational platform but has also served as a springboard for generations of Ho Chi Minh City students to achieve success. Through this meaningful platform, many award-winning students have gone on to become doctors, engineers, teachers, experts, and scientists, making direct contributions to the development of high-quality human resources for the city and the country.
Looking ahead, General Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Press and Radio-Television Agency, Le Van Minh, called on Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper to maintain this close coordination, strengthen communications, and promote efforts to innovate and improve the quality of education in line with the orientations of the Party Central Committee and the city. He also urged the newspaper to continue renewing the format and content of the Le Quy Don Award to make it increasingly engaging and better aligned with the current general education curriculum.
Highlighting the significance of the Le Quy Don Award, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, Nguyen Bao Quoc, described it as a long-standing and meaningful academic platform with an impressive scale, reaching schools and communities across Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces and cities.
The award places a strong emphasis on experiential learning and the application of academic knowledge to address real-life problems, thereby fostering students’ creativity. Through the platform, students have demonstrated valuable qualities and competencies, including perseverance and patience in learning and research, solid knowledge, and the ability to apply what they have learned at school to academic tasks linked to real-life situations, he said.
At the award ceremony, the Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training officially launched the 2026-2027 Le Quy Don Award. The competition will accompany students from September 2026 through May 2027. In the new academic year, the competition will place greater emphasis on experiential and creative activities and on the application of digital competencies in organizing and assessing students.
At the award ceremony, sharing his journey of pursuing his passion, Dr. Le Ba Khanh Trinh said that students need to cultivate perseverance and passion to succeed in their studies and pursue their aspirations. Perseverance helps them overcome difficulties, while passion gives them the determination to keep moving forward. In addition to academic studies, students should also nurture an interest in the arts or sports to enrich their inner lives and make their learning more effective.
According to Associate Professor and Specialist Level II Doctor Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Deputy Director of Children’s Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, pursuing one’s passion and realizing one’s dreams requires more than professional competence. Students also need a warm heart, empathy, and understanding. “Be confident and take the first step. Once you set out, you will find your destination. Dare to dream, because having a dream is the first step toward achieving your own success," she said.
