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The 43rd Golden Tripod Awards ceremony, which honors the best in all aspects of Taiwan's publishing industry, was hosted by the Ministry of Culture at the Taipei New Horizon Building on Sept. 12.

This year, more than 1,200 publications — grouped into the four major categories of magazines, books, government publications, and digital publications — competed for the awards. The entries were reviewed by experts and scholars for nearly two months. A total of 29 works were awarded and 45 others were recommended as excellent publications.

In his speech, Premier Su Tseng-chang said that in free countries, publications are not suppressed. Progressive governments respect publishing, encourage creative output, and use state powers to safeguard freedom of the press.

This was in contrast to Taiwan's martial-ruled past, when people used words and guns to confront the government, he said. The Premier then thanked the publishing industry’s veteran professionals for their release and applications of creative works and publications, which allowed Taiwan to achieve the freedom, democracy, and openness it enjoys today.

The Golden Tripod Special Contribution Award was bestowed to writer-translator Arlene Hsing Chia-hui (幸佳慧), who was unable to attend the Sept. 12 ceremony. Premier Su, who handed over the physical accolade to Hsing on Aug. 26 at the Executive Yuan, also praised Hsing for her commitment to children's picture books and storybooks, noting how her passion and formidable talents have brought children the courage to pursue a better life.

In her speech, Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun promised that the Ministry of Culture will intensify the promotion of five major tasks pertaining to reading and publishing:

• First, the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (文化內容策進院) has been established to strengthen the development of cross-domain revitalization and the development of international access and cultural finance, as well as to encourage enterprises to practice social responsibility and jointly support the development of Taiwanese arts and literature.

• Second, to enhance support for youth creations, the subsidy budget has been increased fourfold, helping young people to embark on the very first mile on their road of creation.

• Third, during this year's World Reading Day, the "Literary Walking Tours of Taiwan (走讀臺灣)" program was held for the first time. The program will be expanded next year to cultivate the nation’s reading population.

• Fourth, expand the "Taiwan Residency Project for International Translators (譯者來臺駐村計畫)" initiative and establish a social network of people interested in translating Taiwanese literature.

• Fifth, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education will jointly promote the "Public Lending Right (PLR) Pilot Project (公共出借權試辦計畫)" next year to support the literary arts and provide a more conducive environment for creators.

"When there are people in the world who are politically oppressed because of opening bookstores or sharing their creations, we will work harder to protect Taiwan's free and pluralistic publishing environment," stated the Minister. "We are confident that Taiwan's open and diversified publishing culture can serve as an important cultural beacon for Asia."