East China's Shanghai Municipality will hold a cartoon design competition, to boost environmental protection publicity.  

Cosponsored by the Shanghai bureau of environmental protection, the municipal committee of the Youth League and Shanghai information commission, it was the first time that such competition had been held in Shanghai, said Lu Jianping, vice director of the organizing committee.

Anyone under 40 years old could enter the competition, Lu said, and their works should be themed "for city, for environment and for life."

The competition started on Thursday and all competitors should submit their cartoon works through the Internet to the organizing committee before May 15, he said.

The committee would judge the works in terms of theme, skills, artistic expressive force and originality, and the results would be announced on June 5, World Environment Day.

Lu said the municipal government hoped that citizens, especially youngsters, would pay more attention to their life quality and environmental protection in Shanghai through the competition.

(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2004)