Balaban Award

Balaban Award 2010

Balaban Award 2009

The Balaban Award is awarded annually by the Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation to an individual or group of individuals who have contributed significantly to furthering the Foundation’s vision, that of preserving the 1000-year heritage of writing in the Nôm and Hán-Nôm ancient scripts.

Endowment for this Award comes from the Vietnamese American Scholarship Fund established by a Vietnamese scientist, Dr. Phùng Liên Đoàn. The Award is named after John Balaban, poet, and professor of English at the North Carolina State University, as well as the founder and former president of the Nôm Foundation. Mr. Balaban spent many years advancing awareness of ancient writing in Vietnam.

Honorees are selected annually by the Board of Directors of the VNPF through nomination from within and outside of the Foundation.


Balaban Award 2010

Balaban Award 2009

Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư

The "Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư" is a History of Greater Vietnam of chữ Nôm ideograms. click here

What is the Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation?

The VNPF is a non-profit 501(c)3 public charity devoted to preserving old chữ Nôm texts and providing chữ Nôm access to all readers of modern Vietnamese. All of us working for the Foundation are volunteers. For more information. click here

What is the "Look-Up Tool"?

the "Look-Up tool" is an electronic dictionary of chữ Nôm ideograms prepared by the Foundation to date. It is the first computer accessible dictionary of chữ Nôm script. Creating this Nôm / Quốc-Ngữ / English dictionary is the main project of the Foundation. We hope that as you use our "Look-Up Tool" you will help us to finish work on our dictionary by making a tax-deductible donation to our organization. We need your help to see the project through to completion. click here

Nôm Dictionaries and Other Publications:

For the first time a true type font dictionary is available in Nôm. Giúp Đọc Nôm và Hán-Việt can now be purchased from our website. We are also offering a new printing of the rare Taberd dictionary, Dictionarium Anamitico-Latinum first published in India in 1838. For more details on both dictionaries, please go to: "Nôm Dictionaries"

This website also provides information about the history of chữ Nôm, other current projects of the Foundation, upcoming public events and the goals of the Foundation. To share your talents as a volunteer or to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation.