Attending the ceremony were Ngo Dong Hai, Member of the Party Central Committee and Deputy Head of the Central Commission for Information and Education; Le Hai Binh, Member of the Party Central Committee and Standing Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics; and Le Quoc Minh, Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Commission for Information and Education, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and Central Mass Organizations, Secretary of the Party Committee and Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, and President of the Viet Nam Journalists Association.

Also in attendance were representatives of central agencies, socio-political organizations, mass associations assigned responsibilities by the Party and State, leaders of agencies and units under the Party Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and Central Mass Organizations, members of the judging panel, and award-winning authors and author groups.

The closing ceremony and award presentation for the second Political Essay Contest on Safeguarding the Party’s Ideological Foundation, 2026. (Photo: Dinh Hoa)

Contest Scale Increases 16-Fold from Previous Year

The second Political Essay Contest on Safeguarding the Party’s Ideological Foundation, 2026, was implemented in accordance with a plan dated March 12, 2026, and officially launched on March 19, 2026.

Building on the results of the first contest in 2025, which received approximately 600 entries, this year’s contest attracted a total of 10,220 entries, a 16-fold increase from 2025. The participation rate among subordinate Party organizations reached 87.5%, one and a half times the previous year's rate. The contest also received enthusiastic participation from a large number of officials and Party members both within and outside the Party Committee, including Party members working overseas.

The contest attracted numerous scholars, intellectuals and representatives of international friendship organizations. Notable participants included Professor and Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladimir N. Kolotov, Director of the Ho Chi Minh Institute at Saint Petersburg State University (Russian Federation); Pedro de Oliveira, Secretary-General of the Brazil-Viet Nam Friendship and Cooperation Association; and Kusum Jain, President of the India-Viet Nam Solidarity Committee.

The participation of domestic and international authors demonstrates the contest’s growing reach, helping expand the network for safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation to include overseas Vietnamese communities and international friends.

Many organizations actively encouraged their members to participate. Notably, the Viet Nam Veterans Association submitted 5,000 entries, while the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union under the Vietnam Fatherland Front and Central Mass Organizations submitted nearly 3,000 entries. Some Party organizations recorded 100% participation among their Party members, including the Central Party Organization of the Vietnam Women’s Union, the Party Cell of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, the Party Cell of the Vietnam Blind Association, and the Party Cell of the Association of Former Youth Volunteers.

According to the Organizing Committee, the contest helped raise awareness and strengthen the sense of responsibility among officials, Party members, Youth Union members and members of mass organizations in safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation. It also served as a large-scale political and ideological campaign, mobilizing participation from a wide range of social groups. Through the contest, the role of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations continued to be promoted in safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation and protecting the State, the political system, the socialist regime and the People.

47 Individual Awards and 8 Certificates of Merit for Outstanding Collective Performance

The inspection and evaluation of contest entries were conducted rigorously using software developed by the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics. Entries were required to meet similarity thresholds of no more than 20% for magazine articles and 25% for newspaper articles. The judging panel, headed by Nguyen Duc Loi, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Standing Vice President of the Viet Nam Journalists Association, conducted two independent rounds of judging and selected the 100 best entries.

Based on the judging results, the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and Central Mass Organizations decided to present 47 individual awards, comprising two A prizes, eight B prizes, 15 C prizes and 22 consolation prizes.

Käch Marius André and Felix Paul Biermann of the Switzerland-Viet Nam Friendship Association receive a consolation prize in the magazine category for their entry, “People-to-People Diplomacy to Strengthen the Ideological Leadership of Internationalism: A Practical Example of Solidarity between Viet Nam and Cuba.” (Photo: Dinh Hoa)

The Standing Committee of the Party Committee also presented eight Certificates of Merit for Outstanding Collective Performance to organizations with notable achievements. These included the Central Party Organization of the Viet Nam Women’s Union; the Central Party Organization of the Viet Nam Farmers’ Union; the Central Party Organization of the Viet Nam Veterans Association; the Party Organization of the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organizations; the Central Party Organization of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union; the Party Cell of the Viet Nam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin; the Party Cell of the Viet Nam Blind Association; and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union under the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and Central Mass Organizations.

The Organizing Committee presents eight Certificates of Merit for Outstanding Collective Performance to organizations with notable achievements. (Photo: Dinh Hoa)

The contest results helped reaffirm the role of Party organizations, the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and mass organizations in harnessing the collective strength of officials, Party members, Youth Union members and members of mass organizations, promoting public communication, countering and refuting erroneous and hostile viewpoints, and disseminating positive information.

Launch of the 2027 Political Essay Contest

At the ceremony, Nguyen Phi Long, Member of the Party Central Committee, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and Central Mass Organizations, and Vice President of the Central Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, officially launched the 2027 Political Essay Contest on Safeguarding the Party’s Ideological Foundation across the entire Party Committee, the Vietnam Fatherland Front system, socio-political organizations, and central mass associations assigned responsibilities by the Party and State.

He stated that efforts to safeguard the Party’s ideological foundation in 2027 must continue to closely follow the implementation of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam’s Resolution, promptly explain emerging issues, counter distorted information, and help address the legitimate concerns and difficulties of the People.

To improve the quality and effectiveness of the contest, he called on Party committees and organizations at all levels to emphasize the accountability of their leaders and proactively incorporate the contest into their 2027 work programs, aligning it with the political tasks of each agency and unit. Another key requirement is to select issues grounded in practical realities, enhance the scientific rigor and persuasive power of entries, and capitalize on the distinctive strengths of mass mobilization, the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and mass organizations.

Nguyen Phi Long, Member of the Party Central Committee, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and Central Mass Organizations, and Vice President of the Central Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front. (Photo: Dinh Hoa)

Nguyen Phi Long emphasized that the Viet Nam Fatherland Front system and central mass organizations have extensive networks of members, alongside teams of experts, scientists and researchers across numerous disciplines and fields. These constitute an important resource for producing entries with sound theoretical and practical foundations that reflect socio-economic development outcomes, the thoughts and aspirations of the People, and contribute to countering erroneous viewpoints.

Alongside efforts to develop a pool of authors and innovate presentation formats, he particularly stressed the need to ensure integrity throughout the writing and contest submission process, while strengthening thematic exchanges and providing officials and Party members with relevant knowledge and experience. Winning entries with strong theoretical and practical value and persuasive power should continue to be published, disseminated and used in the meetings and activities of Party organizations, thereby extending the contest’s impact beyond its conclusion.

Nguyen Phi Long expressed his hope that each organization would proactively develop a pool of authors and select practical, relevant issues, while each author would contribute works demonstrating intellectual depth, political resolve, close engagement with practical realities and a sense of responsibility toward the People. These efforts would help firmly safeguard the Party’s ideological foundation, strengthen public trust and promote the strength of the great national unity bloc.

Some Reflections on Implementing Ho Chi Minh’s Ideology on Vietnam’s People-to-People Diplomacy over the Past 80 Years Vietnam’s people-to-people diplomacy was formed and developed on the foundation of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology: combining national strength with the strength of the times; making more friends and fewer enemies; solidarity and great unity; taking the people as the root; integrating the comprehensive strength of Party diplomacy, State diplomacy, and people-to-people diplomacy. This cause has continuously grown and matured, making worthy contributions to the glorious pages of Vietnam’s modern diplomacy over the past 80 years, and is now standing at the threshold of being reorganized to meet the demands of the new era of nation's rise.

Applying Ho Chi Minh's Ideology to People-to-People Diplomacy in Can Tho Throughout his revolutionary life, President Ho Chi Minh paid special attention to people-to-people diplomacy. Not only did he lay the foundation for Viet Nam’s revolutionary diplomacy, but he also pioneered and developed a system of ideology on people-to-people diplomacy with profound strategic, humanitarian, and contemporary value. Today, these ideas remain an important theoretical foundation and guiding principle for Viet Nam's people-to-people diplomacy in the era of international integration. They also serve as the basis for the Can Tho Union of Friendship Organizations to continuously innovate and improve the quality of its work, contributing to the effective implementation of the Party’s and State’s foreign policy.