Shenzhen will become a brand name in world press photography as it becomes a permanent host city for the China International Press Photo Contest (CHIPP).

Secretary-general of the organizing committee of the CHIPP, Hu Ying, disclosed details during an interview with the Shenzhen Daily on Monday.

"The internationally acclaimed press photo contest usually has a fixed host city such as Amsterdam for the World Photo Press awards in the Netherlands," said Hu. "We plan to locate CHIPP in Shenzhen permanently just like the Bo'ao Forum for Asia."

Hu Ying listed several reasons for choosing Shenzhen as the host city. Firstly, as the special economic zone, Shenzhen had an open and modern environment that was suitable for such an international event.

Secondly, Shenzhen was near Hong Kong and Macao, which was convenient for world-wide participation. The highly developed press industry was another big draw.

"Shenzhen Press Group is quite competitive and influential in the nation as it has a group of young press photographers with pioneering and innovative spirit." The Shenzhen-based CHIPP is expected to add a greater global perspective for local and national press photographers.

The contest is designed as an annual spectacular of press photos. The second session will be held in March next year in Shenzhen.

The Press Photography Society of China began to deliberate on CHIPP in 1996, said Hu.

"China claims a very high professional level of press photography and many Chinese have won international prizes, so we are completely capable of hosting an international contest," said Hu.

Organizers were trying to build brand name for the contest. They had sent letters online or relied on China's overseas correspondents to invite qualified foreign contestants, said Hu.

Editor: Catherine