[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 118 (Monday, July 15, 2019)]
[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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