In order to ensure measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 epidemic, the festival did not hold a gathering of delegates to attend activities in Ninh Binh as planned, but will be held in a limited way at the headquarters of Vietnam Television in Hanoi.
[2] Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, most activities of the 40th National Television Festival had to be canceled.
This festival this time only focuses on grading and ranking of television works in 9 categories.
[3] In addition to the traditional official prizes, the Festival has two more prize categories: The Announcement and Awarding Ceremony took place at 20:05 on December 16, 2020, broadcast live on VTV1, livestream on digital platforms of Vietnam Television Station.
[8] After compiling online voting results, the Digital Content Interaction Prize went to The boy with cancer and the classroom for poor children (Vietnamese: "Chàng trai bị ung thư và lớp học cho trẻ em nghèo") in the category of Children's Program.