With its "Better City, Better Life" theme, the World Expo 2010 is trying to put everyone in the picture, literally.

Organized by the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination and the Shanghai Photographers' Association, a photographic competition with a Shanghai World Expo theme began this week.

"It's like a warm-up activity that invites everyone living in this city to take part in our Expo," says Zhu Xiaoqing, one of the organizing staff. "So just pick up your camera and focus on what interests you, then send your pictures to us and who knows - you might be the winner of the competition."

According to Zhu, the competition is open not just to local citizens but to foreigners living in Shanghai as well.

"Because they might provide a new angle of our life and city with a different interpretation."

The competition is divided into three categories: professional, amateur and children.

Shao Longtu, designer of Haibao, the mascot of the Shanghai World Expo, is the executive director of the photographic competition.

Shao along with some other professional photographers will form the jury.

"The subject may vary from camera to camera, ranging from the prosperity of the city economy, the merging of the many cultures of the city, the innovation of new technology, the interactivity between the city and the suburbs or the ecological environmental protection," Zhu says.

The official Website for the competition is www.sheying2010.com.cn. An English Website will be completed by the end of this month.

The deadline will be the end of this November.

All the winning pictures will be showcased next April at several venues, including the Shanghai Urban Planning and Exhibition Hall and the Song Jiang Art Museum.

(Shanghai Daily June 12, 2009)