The 17th National Radio Festival - Quang Ninh 2026 is scheduled to take place from April 11 to 13 in Quang Ninh, with many professional and creative activities, contributing to enriching the public's experience.
The event is organized by Voice of Vietnam (VOV) in coordination with Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee, with the theme "Radio for a strong and prosperous Vietnam".
This is the largest professional activity of the broadcasting industry, held periodically every 2 years, to honor typical works, and at the same time create a space for exchange and experience sharing for journalists nationwide.
Notably, the podcast became the highlight of this year's Festival season when it was first included in the official competition system, reflecting the trend of the audio journalism shift in the context of multi-platform media.
Speaking at the press conference on March 30, journalist Pham Manh Hung - Head of the Organizing Committee, Deputy General Director of Voice of Vietnam Radio said that the development of technology and digital platforms is opening up many new opportunities for radio.
He emphasized: "The development of technology and digital platforms is opening up a new creative space for audio journalism. Podcasts become a highlight at the 17th National Radio Festival - Quang Ninh 2026".
In the context of increasingly fierce competition from cross-border platforms and rapid changes in information reception habits, developing podcasts is not only a trend but also an inevitable requirement for radio to expand its reach and affirm its position in the modern media ecosystem.
Journalist Pham Manh Hung also expressed his expectation that the Festival will not only stop at honoring excellent works, but also promote the development of podcasts and new audio content formats, helping Vietnamese radio get closer to the public.
The Organizing Committee also encourages press agencies, media units and digital content creator groups to participate with creative podcast products, rich in information value and capable of spreading on digital platforms.
This year's festival gathers 34 local press and radio-television agencies, along with units under VOV, the armed forces and many central press agencies. Entries are spread across many genres such as live radio, reports, investigative reports, thematic programs, ethnic language programs and podcasts.
In parallel with that, the Festival also conducts judging for many categories such as Golden Voice for announcers, program hosts; excellent live broadcast production crew; outstanding podcast hosts and typical technicians. The expansion of categories shows efforts to fully recognize creative stages in sound content production.
Within the framework of the event, the international conference "Podcast - Innovation Avenue for Radio in the Digital Age" will gather journalists, experts and content producers from home and abroad, to share experiences, trends and podcast development models.
Through this series of activities, the Festival is expected to become a bridge between traditional radio and the digital content creative ecosystem, contributing to creating modern, attractive and widely spreading sound products.
The National Radio Festival attracted the participation of 73 delegations with nearly 1,000 delegates including: Units of Voice of Vietnam Radio; 34 Newspaper and Radio and Television agencies of provinces and cities; 2 units of the Security Force, Army and 8 other press agencies (Vietnam News Agency, Nhan Dan Newspaper, Lao Dong Newspaper, VnExpress, Thanh Nien Newspaper, Nong Nghiep va Moi Truong Newspaper, Dan Viet Newspaper, Tuoi Tre Newspaper). A total of 343 entries in all categories. Among them, the Podcast category has 97 entries.
