IN RECOGNITION OF VIET BAO FOUNDATION'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF WRITING ON AMERICA AWARDS; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 118
(Extensions of Remarks - July 15, 2019)
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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E920]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IN RECOGNITION OF VIET BAO FOUNDATION'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF WRITING ON
AMERICA AWARDS
______
HON. ALAN S. LOWENTHAL
of california
in the house of representatives
Monday, July 15, 2019
Mr. LOWENTHAL. Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Viet Bao Daily
News and Viet Bao Foundation to recognize and celebrate the 20th
Anniversary of the Writing on America Awards.
Founded 27 years ago in Little Saigon, California, Viet Bao Daily
News serves as one of the main Vietnamese media outlets representing
the voice of the Vietnamese American community in the United States.
Today, Viet Bao coverage has reached Vietnamese communities in remote
areas including those in Southern California; Northern California;
Seattle, Washington; Houston, Texas; Louisiana; and Portland, Oregon.
The main editorial office is in the heart of Little Saigon in
Westminster, California.
Viet Bao Foundation, a non-profit organization, was founded to
support Viet Bao Daily News' mission, to promote Vietnamese culture,
literature, language, and arts. The Writing on America Essay Contest is
one of many programs that the foundation currently manages and run to
support this mission.
Writing on America was established on September 1999, with the first
Awards Ceremony held at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba
Linda, California on November 29, 2000. From there on, there has been a
new story published every day on Viet Bao and Viet Bao Online
publications.
A Writing on America Anthology, including 600 plus pages is published
yearly. The US Congress, in its July 28, 2010 meeting, officially
commended Viet Bao for the cultural and historical values achieved by
the American Writing Program. In 2016, the Writing on America Anthology
officially entered the Library of Congress for all Americans to enjoy
and treasure.
The Writing on America Awards is an Essay Contest held annually,
which draws several thousand participants. Started in August 1999, in
paying tribute to America, Viet Bao asked their readers to share their
``American Dream'' stories.
Since then, writers from across the country have been sending in
their stories retelling their early and hardship days in America as
well as their successful stories in achieving their American dreams.
The selected stories are published daily on Viet Bao, Vietbao.com
website and on the annual anthology title ``Writing on America''.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Writing on America Awards has
published a total of 22 editions, including more than 14,000 pages of
stories, from thousand of writers. Writing on America anthology is
known as a book of ``live history from thousand writers''.
In addition to the official publication by Viet Bao, thousands of
articles were also repeatedly posted on Vietnamese and foreign language
websites and books, many of which were reprinted. Regardless of the
number of readers, the total impressions on Viet Bao website alone is
over 800 million. Some authors have a record of over 1 million
impressions. Nearly 5,800 articles of thousands of writers about
America are now available on Vietbao.com. The response and support from
the community over the last 20 years have been tremendously
significant.
Today, Viet Bao offers annual cash prizes up to $35,000 to the essay
winners, including one first prize winner worth $10,000 in cash, and
many other category prizes worth of $35,000 in cash.
This year, when Viet Bao celebrates its 20th anniversary, the award-
winning writings enter its 12th anniversary collection, becoming the
longest-standing writing contest ever in the Vietnamese literature
award history of the Vietnamese community abroad as well as in the
country.
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