The initiative is jointly organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists, and Vietnam Television.

At the launching ceremony, a representative from the ministry said that Vietnam has climbed to the 46th place in the 2025 World Happiness Report, rising eight positions from 2024 and an impressive 19 places from 2023. This achievement represents significant international recognition of Vietnam's policies and accomplishments in ensuring human rights over recent years.

Against the backdrop, the contest calls for Vietnamese citizens, overseas Vietnamese, and international friends to share compelling photographs and videos that illustrate Vietnam’s stories of happiness, cultural richness, and socio-economic achievements, thereby helping enhance the country’s prestige and position in the international arena.

Through this award, organisers intend to convey messages about Vietnam as a rapidly transforming nation with robust and comprehensive development across all sectors, including breakthroughs in science-tech development, innovation and national digital transformation, international integration in the new situation, legal reforms, and fast, sustainable, efficient and high-quality private economic development.

The contest is open to both amateur and professional creators, Vietnamese or foreign, aged 15 and above. All entries will undergo a rigorous selection process based on clear and transparent criteria, with the judging panel comprising leading journalists, respected artists, and photography and film experts. Submissions will be reviewed in pre-screening and final rounds.

For the photography category, entries must be single photos or photo series in digital jpg format with a minimum shortest side of 3,000 pixels. Each author may submit unlimited works, including both single photos and photo series.

Photo series comprise a minimum of five and a maximum of ten images. They should be clearly numbered and include a layout and a short description of up to 150 words.

In the video category, submissions must be in digital mp4 format with a minimum resolution of Full HD. Each video must not exceed five minutes in length or 500MB in file size. Contestants are free to use any video recording device, from professional cameras to smartphones.

The submission period runs from May 22 to September 30, 2025. Detailed submission guidelines and the official contest rules are available at https://happy.vietnam.vn.

Each category offers one first prize (50 million VND or over 1,900 USD), two second prizes (30 million VND each), three third prizes (15 million VND each), and ten consolation prizes (5 million VND each). An additional VND 5 million will be granted to the most-voted work overall.

The organisers will also award one creativity prize in each category valued at 20 million VND for works demonstrating innovative ideas in both content and presentation format. Besides, monthly prizes will be given to the top voted entries in each category./.