A MIDDLE school student is the only Shenzhen candidate among the 280 nominees running for this year’s national green award, according to a list of nominees released Monday by State environmental protection authorities.

It was the second time Xu Haiting, a 14-year-old student at Shekou International School, had been nominated for the national award, but she said she was surprised and honored after learning of her nomination.

“This is confirmation of the efforts I have made and an encouragement for me to do better,” she said.

Xu hoped that she could win this year’s award, but, whatever the result, the nomination was certainly a strong motivation for her to continue her commitment to the cause of Shenzhen’s environmental protection.

Xu said she had been working on three environment assignments for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) after attending a UNEP summit in Malaysia in August 2006 to report on UNEP’s four environmental projects in China. “I am helping reduce the use of plastic bags, promote eco-friendly ideas in local communities and plant 20 trees each year.”

Xu has been concerned about environmental issues since early childhood. At an international children’s environmental protection conference organized by UNEP in 2004, Xu called on the world to protect pink dolphins which are 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 won second prize in a national English speech competition on environmental protection for primary and middle school students in 2004.