Ten outstanding young faces of 2018 announced

In the culture-arts category, Miss Vietnam H’hen Nie was selected as this year’s winner. H’hen Nie was born in 1992 into a farming family in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak. She won the Miss Universe Vietnam pageant in 2017 and finished in the top five at the global Miss Universe 2018 competition held in Thailand.

H’hen Nie has actively engaged in charitable activities in all regions across the country, especially with programmes to support people living with HIV-AIDS, while inspiring students, especially girls, and assisting poor families. Along with helping raise public awareness of HIV, H’hen Nie has worked hard for gender equality and wider access to education for all.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Duc Thanh and Vong Binh Long, both born in 1984, have become the country’s outstanding faces in scientific research and innovation.

Thanh has also been previously honoured with the US NIH Trailblazer Award for New and Early Stage Investigators, and the SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award.

Long is a successful researcher in the area of nanotechnology for the treatment of infectious diseases and cancers. His research in the field has been published in multiple noteworthy international academic journals, including ‘Gastroenterology’ under the American Gastroenterological Association and ‘Biomaterials’.

The young face recognised in the category of study is Nguyen Phuong Thao, aged 19. Thao achieved respectable academic success by winning a gold medal at the International Biology Olympiad 2018, a silver medal of the International Biology Olympiad 2017, and a gold medal of the Natural Science Olympiad in the 2015-2016 academic year.

She was also awarded a third-class Labour Order by the State President, and many certificates of merit from various ministries and agencies. 

The award for the outstanding Vietnamese youth in the startup industry was Van Dinh Hong Vu, 36, Master of Business Administration and Education at Stanford University. In March 2018, the English pronunciation application ELSA Speak, which she developed alongside other partners, successfully pitched 3.2 million USD. After 24 hours of its first debut, the app attracted 30,000 downloads, which has so far topped 700,000 and been available in over 90 countries and territories globally. It is also among the top 5 best artificial intelligence apps. 

Tran Van Thuyet, 29, was recognised for his achievements in labour and production. He was the head of a group in charge of designing and developing core charging modules, contributing to refining and successfully launching the vOCS3.0 online charging system in Vietnam. The vOCS2.0 and vOCS3.0 are now available in seven markets invested by the military-run telecom provider Viettel, meeting the demands of its 140 million subscribers.

Footballer Nguyen Quang Hai was named as the exceptional figure in the sports sector. Hai won the Vietnam Golden Ball award last year, as well as the Bronze Ball title in 2017.

Last year, Vietnam finished second at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championships, and Hai contributed five out of the team’s eight goals. In addition, Vietnam’s Olympic team made history by qualifying for the semi-finals of the men’s football at the Asian Games. 

The 21-year-old footballer was also honoured the Most Valuable Player of the 2018 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup, where Vietnam was crowned champion. He also received second- and third-class Labour Orders during the year.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Thuan, born in 1991, was honoured in national defence. He ensured safety standards in flight training and usage on the DHC-6 seaplane. 

Thuan completed his training ahead of schedule and received recognition as a main pilot for all categories. He also had fulfilled his duties of carrying out reconnaissance flights out at sea. 

Major Le Trong Hieu, born in 1983, has been honoured with the Vietnamese outstanding youth face award for security and order in 2018. 

He was awarded a third-class feat of arms medal and a certificate of merit by the Ministry of Public Security for his achievements in effectively implementing professional and social evil prevention, contributing to promoting the “All people protect national security” movement. In 2018, Hieu directly joined campaigns to raze five black credit groups, as well as six groups of theft and consumption of stolen things; investigated and discovered 15 cases of theft; and arrested 30 suspects, including 21 wanted people.

Meanwhile, Le Dinh Hieu won the title of the Vietnamese outstanding youth in social activities. The 31-year-old made it onto the list of the 30 brightest stars under the age of 30 in different fields of Vietnam in 2016 by Forbes. Hieu is the founder of the G.A.P Institute and the Hear.US.Now project of teaching English and computing skills to deaf people. The G.A.P Institute was selected by the UNESCO Centre For Culture, Education, and Training Organisation to be a strategic partner for the Talent Generation project, which helped connect 10,000 students and create jobs for about 1,000 students from universities nationwide. 

The Vietnam Outstanding Young Faces Award is a highly esteemed event from the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Central Committee, aiming to honour outstanding youths under 35 across the nation who are studying, working in scientific research at home and abroad, and those having great achievements of national construction and defence. 

The award is hoped to promote emulation movements for learning, training, scientific research, and creative activities among youths and attract public attention to educating and training young people. 

This year, up to 137 youths, including 38 young women and nine individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds, were nominated for the award.

The commendation ceremony of the Vietnamese outstanding young faces in 2018 will take place at the Vietnam Television on March 19.