VietnamPlus and Siemens signed a partnership agreement in Hanoi on Oct. 21 whereby VietnamPlus will be the media sponsor for Siemens Green Technology Journalism Award 2010.

This award is created for the first time in ASEAN in order to acknowledge and reward journalists for excellent reporting on energy efficiency, industrial productivity and sustainability issues. It is open to print and online media from Indonesia , Malaysia , the Philippines , Singapore , Thailand and Vietnam.

“We are very pleased to receive strong cooperation and support from VietnamPlus for this important initiative, thanks to it information about this prestigious award will be able to reach the media community more widely and attract a more diverse pool of good candidates,” said Erdal Elver, President and CEO of Siemens Vietnam.

Vietnamplus Editor-in-chief Le Quoc Minh said, “Green technology and a sustainable environment are important issues that the entire society is now aware of and VietnamPlus – as part of the Vietnam News Agency, the biggest media company in the country – is ready to be an active player to promote good reporting of this field in particular and to improve the quality of journalism in general.”

All submissions for the Siemens Green Technology Journalism Award 2010 must be published from January 1 to December 31, 2010, in mainstream media such as newspapers, magazines or websites of professional journalist groups.

Articles will be judged in English, so journalists are encouraged to include their own translation for those reports which are written in Vietnamese.

Entries will be evaluated according to their news value, relevance to the three award categories – Energy Efficiency, Industrial Productivity and Sustainability – as well as the journalist’s writing and language skills.

For each category, there will be an award for the category and a merit winner. Winners will receive cash prizes as well as the opportunity to attend a seminar on sustainability and new technologies organised by the Technical University of Berlin, and to visit Siemens’ R&D and production centres in Germany . 

Submission ends on December 31, 2010 at 5pm.

By My Le