Voting Open for Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest 2025-2026
HANOI GRAPEVINE’S FINEST has returned with its 7th edition, celebrating individuals, organisations, projects and activities in the field of arts and culture, as well as artists who made an impact on the community in the past year.
HANOI GRAPEVINE’S FINEST is an annual honouring event, organised and selected by Hanoi Grapevine and the audience community. We hope to receive nominations from the community for our annual lists of nominations and recognition, thereby continuing to build and expand these catalogues into a long-term archive of high reference value on the development of Vietnam’s contemporary art and cultural landscape.
This year, HANOI GRAPEVINE’S FINEST 2025–2026 continues with the two Honouring and Recognition categories.
Honouring categories consist of Finest Projects, Finest Artists, and Fresh-faced Organisers. Recognition categories consist of Finest Organisers, Old Vines, and Active Producers/Curators.
Nominations are selected based on a set of criteria that prioritise developmental significance and impacts, including the extent of activity, community engagement, creativity, organisational capacity and artistic quality.
Regarding this year’s format
This year, instead of an honouring event as usual, HANOI GRAPEVINE’S FINEST takes place entirely on digital platforms to focus resources on the production and promotion of the Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest 2025–2026 Catalogue – the annual publication with high archival and reference values that is now available on international digital archives, including SEADL (Southeast Asia Digital Library) and Asian Art Archive. We look forward to the companionship of art patrons and sponsors to bring Vietnamese artists into the international archiving landscape and dialogues.
Notes on design
This year’s key visuals reflect a certain transformation, created by a familiar name who prefers to remain undisclosed. The colour palette is expanded and combined with a multitude of typefaces – from online typefaces, new fonts not yet adapted to Vietnamese characters, to letters taken from handwritten notice boards found in everyday life – as a way of accommodating diversity and multiple perspectives on the same page. They might not be instantly legible at first glance, but we hope this encourages our audience to take a pause – in a year when we have already scrolled through kilometres of words.
HANOI GRAPEVINE’S FINEST includes three Honouring categories, with the following judging criteria and voting process:
Honouring categories
Finest Projects
Projects are selected through a nomination form sent to cultural practitioners/organisations and active art enthusiasts. We will compile a list of significant projects/event series based on the criteria of: Artistic quality, In-person and online exchange quality, Social, educational, and developmental significance, Clear communication with the audience, Logistical arrangements, and the Ability to connect with the audience at large.
Long-term projects that have been included in the previous Finest nomination lists will also be considered for recognition categories.
a/ The project aims for long-term values.
b/ The project considers community values as a clear focus from the beginning.
c/ The project aims for inclusivity and interdisciplinarity, encouraging mutual learning and addressing or approaching issues in a comprehensive and open manner.
d/ The project places emphasis on communication before, during and after its run.
e/ Organisational factors and the ability to connect and engage with the public are considered.
Finest Artists
Finest Artists prioritises young artists under 35 or those who have been practising art for no more than 5 years, with active engagement, showcases and activities in prominent art, educational, progressive and impactful projects and events.
We will not select artists/cultural practitioners/organisers who have been included in the previous Finest nomination lists more than 03 times.
a/ In addition to personal artistic practice with clear and convincing results (such as holding a solo exhibition, releasing an album, among others), the artist has also initiated, co-organised or participated in activities that support the artistic community and actively engaged in interactions with art audiences
b/ The artist has maintained a consistent, active and persistent practice over previous years
c/ The artist demonstrates a research-driven mindset, commitment and thorough exploration of a specific topic, or continuously strives to renew their work throughout different stages of their career.
d/ The artist possesses a distinctive artistic language and has shown dedication in exploring new technologies, materials and mediums in their creative practice.
Fresh-faced Organisers
Fresh-faced organisers are selected to honour the efforts of art and cultural event organisers who have been operational for at least 2 years but no more than 5 years, were active in 2025, and have been involved in creative, meaningful projects that contribute to the development of contemporary Vietnamese art and culture.
This category prioritises organisers who pioneer new initiatives and experiments with new forms of artistic expression, event formats, or creative operational models that commit to community/social values and are well-received by the audience.
a/ The organiser (art and cultural organisation, group or business) has been in operation for at least 02 years but no more than 05 years.
b/ The organiser provides access to a diverse range of audiences.
c/ The organiser has a long-term vision and a clear focus on community development.
d/ The organiser is interdisciplinary, encouraging mutual learning, and addressing or approaching issues in a comprehensive and open manner.
e/ The organiser regularly holds diverse events and activities with a variety of content and formats.
f/ The organiser actively connects with creative individuals, collectives and organisations regardless of geographical location.
g/ The organiser provides opportunities for young people and emerging artists to collaborate.
HANOI GRAPEVINE’S FINEST 2025-2026 has two voting categories – Audience’s Choices and Passionate Audience Council (PAC)’s Choices. The general audience has two weeks to cast their votes, while the PAC – comprising active actors in the art and cultural community – will make the final selection for prizes awarded by Hanoi Grapevine. PAC members are acknowledged in the annual Finest publication, invited to share feedback to improve the programme, and granted free access to Hanoi Grapevine’s events for the following year.
Hanoi Grapevine will directly send out PAC invitations, provide the list of nominations and relevant information to support them in the voting process. Each PAC member may select only one nominee in each category of the nomination list. The PAC plays an important role in ensuring fairness in the awarding process, safeguarding community voices, and offering in-depth observations to improve evaluation quality.
Cast your votes here (available in Vietnamese only)
Deadline: 23:59, 06 June 2026.
Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest Overview (PDF)
We would also like to propose sponsorship benefits for organisations and individuals who hope to support this meaningful annual event. For more details, please contact Ms. Đào: 0375320566 or send us an email at [email protected]
Follow for more updates on Fanpage Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest
