A ceremony was held in Hanoi on December 12 to present the 2016 Vietnam Folk Arts Awards to 78 of the most outstanding folk art works produced in the country.

According to Professor To Ngoc Thanh, who is Chairman of the Vietnam Folk Arts Association, the organising board received 103 works registered to the awards in 2016.

In total, 78 works were honoured with 77 awards and gifts including two first, two second (A category), eight second (B category), 24 third (A category), 20 third (B category) and 18 consolation prizes.

Two first prizes of this year went to the projects “Dong Duong Monastery – The original style of Champa arts” by Ngo Van Doanh and “Mo Muong oratorio arts” by Associate Professor Kieu Trung Son.

In his work, Ngo Van Doanh affirmed the formation and existence of Dong Duong style Champa arts; meanwhile Associate Professor Kieu Trung Son and his colleagues introduced a connotation of the concept of ‘oratorio arts’, opening another door for studying Mo Muong, the epic of the Muong people.

The quantity and quality of projects registered at this year’s awards were higher than the previous years, said Professor To Ngoc Thanh.

In addition to projects in the form of collection, there were many in-depth research works, contributing to implementing major tasks of the Vietnam Folk Arts Association.

Regarding the field of folk music, the projects on Thanh Hoa province’s folk music by Nguyen Lien and Hoang Minh Tuong, ‘Folk songs of Islamic Cham people in Dong Nai and Tay Ninh provinces’ by musician Tran Viet Binh’ and ‘Nghe Tinh folk music’ by Dang Thanh Luu musician, received great praise from the organising board.

Nhan Dan