The national television festival opened on December 18 in the central city of Da Nang, bringing together producers and other broadcast professionals to share experiences.

About 700 entries from both State-owned and private studios will be in competition for recognition as the best works of 2011.

Eight categories including children's programming; documentary and reporting; short reporting; science and education programmes; talk shows; ethnic programmes; music shows; and television series will be judged by different jury panels.

The works reflect the country's political, social, economic and cultural achievements as well as current issues such as hunger and poverty, corruption and the campaign to emulate President Ho Chi Minh's moral example, according to the organising committee.

The festival, once limited to State-owned studios, now involves 12 private studios in the three categories of reporting, talk shows and documentaries.

"Many high-quality productions have been made by private studios," said Nguyen Ha Nam, deputy head of the organizing committee. "It is not fair if they are absent from the festival."

The director of the private studio, Phuoc Sang, will be on the six-member jury panel for the television series. The panel, chaired by writer and playwright Le Phuong, has already started reviewing entries in the multiple-episode category (10-50 episodes) that includes VTV Film Centre's Chu Tich Tinh (Provincial Chairman); TK-L Communication's Goi Nang (Sun Hailing); and World Star Communication's Huyen Su Thien Do (Legendary History of the Citadel).

Three workshops and two exhibitions will be held during the festival. The workshops will be focused on improving the quality of television shows, television technology development, and co-operation between the national and local television stations. A forum will also be held to discuss cultural heritage conservation and development. (Source: VOV)