From the left: Tran Thi Tra Giang, Dang Thi Hoang Ha and Bui Kim Ngan at the awards ceremony of the Improving the Use and Protection of Water Sources contest.

The brainchild of Tran Thi Tra Giang, Dang Thi Hoang Ha, and Bui Kim Ngan from Thai Nguyen High School for the Gifted, www.moitruong.good.to features video clips and news articles about the current state of Vietnam’s water sources, remedial suggestions, and of course a forum.

Its no-nonsense homepage shows a ticking clock and a moving slogan that reads: “Treasuring time, let’s act now for the environment and human life.”

Winning the contest titled Improving the Use and Protection of Water Sources, the girls also targeted elementary school children and preschoolers through funny clips and games with an environmental theme.

Speaking on the sidelines of the awards ceremony on Tuesday, team leader Giang said that living in an industrial town, she knew all about the environmental damage caused by factory waste.

“That’s why I wanted to start a website urging people, especially students, to join hands to protect their own future,” she said.

When the competition was launched at Giang’s school last June, she and her two closest friends gathered, read and edited as much pertinent information as they could find on the Internet to upload to their planned website.

They also traveled around taking photographs and filming video clips to boost the content.

Their information technology friends helped them design the website, which was born three months later.

Nguyen Ngoc Sinh, head of the Vietnam Association for the Conservation of Nature and the Environment (VACNE), said this year’s final was very close.

He said it was their convincing performance in the oral test that gave Giang’s team victory over the rest of the field.

From here, the girls go on to represent Vietnam at the Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition in Sweden in August.

Giang said they would have to work hard to improve the website, which will be translated into English, for the international contest with competitors from over 30 countries.

Held by VACNE in cooperation with the education and environment ministries and other government bodies, the contest received more than 2,500 entries from students aged 15-20.

VietNamNet/TN/TTXVN/TT