The Việt Nam Writers’ Association was established in 1957 out of the earlier Việt Nam Literature and Arts Association. A national association, it aims to unite all writers in the cause of building an advanced Vietnamese literature imbued with ethnic identity. Membership is open to all writers of Vietnamese nationality whose work accords with the principles and objectives of the Association and who have at least two books of short stories, novels, poems, theoretical or critical essays printed which have achieved popular acclaim amongst writers. The Association focuses its activities on four areas - prose, poetry, criticism and works in translation - each of which have their own professional councils to encourage and motivate writers. The Association also incorporates an Association of Translators and three special scientific committees which deal with the literature of ethnic minorities, children’s literature and war literature. Leaders of the Association are elected every five years, including the General Secretary, Deputy General Secretary and Executive Committee Members. Each year it presents the Việt Nam Writers’ Association Awards in a range of different literary genres and the Thăng Long Prize every five years for works of special literary significance. The Association has its own small film studio, a writers’ cultural centre and a publishing house, which issues the weekly Văn Nghê (Literature and Arts) Newspaper, the monthly Nhà văn (Writers) Magazine and the bimonthly Văn học Nước ngoài (Foreign Literature) Magazine. In 2000 the Association set up the Literary Copyright Fund.