A LOCAL middle school student and a migrant worker are among 20 people nominated for the first annual "10 Environmental Protection Stars in Guangdong" award, the Daily Sunshine reported yesterday.

The general public and a jury of experts will pick the final 10 winners.

Xu Haiting, 14, a student of Shekou International School, said she felt honored after being nominated for the award.

"This is a confirmation for the effort I have made, and an encouragement for me to do better. I will try to influence the people around me and help plant in them a care for our living environment," she was quoted by the paper as saying yesterday.

Xu has been concerned about the environment since early childhood. At an international children's environmental protection conference organized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 2004, Xu called on the world to protect pink dolphins on the verge of extinction. She was the only Chinese speaker to deliver a keynote speech on water conservation at the 2005 UNEP summit in Aichi City in Japan. She was invited to a UNEP summit in Malaysia last August, and reported on the UNEP's four environmental projects in China. She has set up her personal Web site to promote environmental protection efforts. Last year, she was named an "environment ambassador" by the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Association and nominated for a national award.

Song Zhiliang, the migrant worker who was nominated, only has a primary school education.

Song has cycled 100,000 kilometers to more than 100 Chinese cities in the past 11 years to give speeches on environmental protection. More than 3 million people have attended his speeches. He founded the "green bicycle team" in the local volunteers' association to promote riding bicycles, an environmentally friendly method of transportation.

Song cycled from Shenzhen to Shanghai in 2003 to promote awareness about environmental protection. In 2004, he cycled nonstop for 24 hours for that purpose.

In 2005, he was awarded the first "Shenzhen Citizens' Green Award."

(Li Dan)