Launching the 31st Golden Apricot Awards - 2025: Promises many surprises and excitement

Along with music, 2025 also marks a strong development of the stage.

This year, there are 16 categories and 3 awards: "Lifetime Artist for the Community", "Artist for the Community in 2025" and the Award "Art program contributing to honoring Vietnamese cultural identity".

The 31st Golden Apricot Awards - 2025 has made adjustments and additions, helping readers grasp this year's nomination trends for new categories.

Separate the two categories of songs and MVs

This year, the Organizing Committee (OC) has added and adjusted a number of categories to more fully reflect the creative life of contemporary art. Most notably, the independent appearance of the two categories "Most Favorite Song" and "Most Favorite MV (Music Video)". According to the BTC, separating these two categories is necessary, because in any music award, songs and MVs, although closely related, are not identical.

A song can make a strong impression just by its melody, lyrics and the singer's voice, even with just simple images or even without an MV. On the contrary, an MV can conquer the public thanks to its creative staging, attractive cinematic story, application of modern technology and meticulous art design, sometimes going far beyond the limits of the song.

The 30th Golden Apricot Awards Ceremony - 2024 at the City Theater (HCMC). Photo: HOANG TRIEU

If grouped together in one category, it would be difficult to fairly evaluate the creative efforts of artists and crews in each field. Therefore, the parallel existence of these two categories affirms that music is not only about "listening" but also about "seeing", contributing to shaping modern enjoyment trends.

People's Artist Ta Minh Tam analyzed: "A song is honored for its melody and message, while an MV is recognized for its ideas, technology and ability to tell a story through images."

Towards political theater works

Along with music, 2025 also marks a strong development of the stage. This is the year when the country has many major holidays, and many stages across the country have staged large-scale plays and art programs, praising the spirit of sacrifice for national independence and freedom. These works not only left a deep impression on the stages of hát bội, cải lương, and drama, but also spread strongly on digital platforms and television.

Therefore, the Organizing Committee has added the category "Most Favorite Political Art Show/Play" to the stage field this year.

With this adjustment, the theater sector will have a total of 5 categories, creating conditions to more comprehensively honor the creative efforts and dedication of artists over the past year.

These changes show that the awards are constantly updated to reflect the reality of artistic life, encourage diverse creativity and ensure fairness in honoring.

This is also a way to affirm the strong vitality of the cultural industry, where music and theater both play important pillars, complementing each other in the flow of modern creativity.

Rules of the 31st Golden Apricot Award - 2025

The Mai Vang Award organized by the Lao Dong Newspaper is an annual award nominated and voted by readers, for individuals, groups of artists, works, television programs - digital platforms taking place during the year (from November 25 of the previous year to November 24 of the following year) that are most loved by the public - readers of the newspaper.

* NOMINATION ROUND:

The 31st Golden Apricot Award nomination round - 2025 takes place from September 16 to November 25, 2025. Based on the actual cultural and artistic activities during the year and the level of public interest from readers of the Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, the Organizing Committee of the 31st Golden Apricot Award - 2025 decided on 16 nomination categories, including:

- MUSIC

1. Most favorite male singer

2. Most favorite female singer

3. Most favorite singing group

4. Most favorite song

5. Most favorite MV (music video )

- STAGE

6. Most favorite stage actor

7. Most Favorite Stage Actress

8. Most favorite comedian

9. Most favorite stage play

10. Most favorite political art shows and performances

- MOVIE - TELEVISION

11. Most favorite film and television actor

12. Most favorite film and television actress

13. Most favorite TV series

14. Most favorite movie

- PROGRAMME

15. Most favorite MC

16. TV shows - the most popular digital platform.

The 31st Golden Apricot Award nomination round - 2025 takes place on the following media: Electronic Newspaper Nguoi Lao Dong (nld.com.vn), Mai Vang website (maivang.nld.com.vn) and Mai Vang Facebook. Readers access the Electronic Newspaper Nguoi Lao Dong (nld.com.vn) or Mai Vang website (maivang.nld.com.vn) to receive nomination forms. Readers participating in the nomination only need to fill in the information according to the instructions.

* VOTING ROUND:

The 31st Golden Apricot Award voting round - 2025 will take place from December 10, 2025 to January 22, 2026. The Organizing Committee will base on the actual number of votes from readers in each category, together with the Art Council to vote for the top 5 candidates (in order from 01-05) to get the results.

If the readers' voting results coincide with the Arts Council's, that result will be used as the announced result. In case of a large difference, the Organizing Committee will consult the Steering Committee and the Arts Council will decide.

The 31st Golden Apricot Award Art Council - 2025 was established by the Editor-in-Chief of the Lao Dong Newspaper, with members including famous artists and prestigious experts.

- In addition to the 16 categories mentioned above, the 31st Mai Vang - 2025 also has the following awards:

+ "Lifetime Artist for the Community" and "Artist for the Community 2025" awards.

+ Award "Outstanding cultural and artistic works in 2025" (including 3 fields: Literature, Painting and Photography).

+ Award "Art program contributes to honoring Vietnamese cultural identity".

(These awards are not voted on, but will be sent to professional associations for comments before being submitted to the Arts Council for consideration. The final results will be decided by the Editorial Board - Steering Committee of the 31st Golden Apricot Awards - 2025).

Nomination Guidelines

- This year's nomination form is the same as last year's. Readers must register an account on the Lao Dong Newspaper to be able to submit nominations.

- Readers access the address https://maivang.nld.com.vn or click on the banner "Invite readers to nominate for the 2025 Mai Vang Award" on the homepage of the Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper (nld.com.vn) and log in (if you already have an account on the Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, if you forget your password, click the Forgot password button to reset it) or register for an account (if you don't have one yet) to participate in the nomination.

- To submit a nomination, you need to have at least 5 points (equivalent to 5,000 VND) in your account. Readers can choose to top up points by clicking the TOP UP POINTS button and choosing from available packages or freely enter the number of points you want to top up your account, then follow the instructions on the screen.

- In the payment method selection step, choose Momo wallet, Zalopay, Internet Banking via Napas portal or pay via QR code scanning by choosing Ngan Luong portal to pay.

- After having at least 5 points in your account, select the category you want to nominate and enter the name of the artist, work or program you like. Then enter the prediction number which is the total number of votes you predict (the prediction number to consider the reader's winnings) and then click the Submit nomination button to send the vote.

* Note:

- Readers can nominate their favorite artists, works or programs in one or more categories in the following fields: music, theater, cinema, television - digital platforms.

- In each category, each reader can only nominate once per day for 1 individual, artist group, work or TV program - digital platform.

* Prizes for readers who participate in nominations:

- First prize: 5 million VND; second prize: 3 million VND; third prize: 2 million VND and 10 consolation prizes: 1 million VND/prize.

- The winning ticket is the ticket with nomination in the voting round list announced by the Organizing Committee, with the prediction of the number of votes participating in the nomination closest to the total number of votes nominated on the electronic Newspaper Nguoi Lao Dong, the mobile version of Nguoi Lao Dong.

- The winning reader will be responsible for income tax according to the law.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/khoi-dong-giai-mai-vang-lan-thu-31-2025-hua-hen-nhieu-bat-ngo-thu-vi-196250915221357897.htm