The Second China International Press Photo Contest (CHIPP) will be held in March next year in Shenzhen, the contest¡¯s organizers said at a press conference in Beijing on Friday.

The theme of the contest will be ¡°Peace and Development¡± as it was last year. Photojournalists and photographers worldwide are invited to participate in the event by submitting photos taken and published in 2005. The deadline for entries is Feb. 15, 2006.

Drawing from the experience of the first CHIPP, the organizers have made three major changes to the second CHIPP, according to Yu Ning, director of the Organizing Committee of the CHIPP and chairman of Photojournalism Society of China (CPS).

¡°The jury for the second CHIPP will be reduced from the first year¡¯s 15 to 13, of whom five will be from the Chinese mainland, and one from Taiwan, while the number of foreign judges will remain seven,¡± Yu said.

According to Yu, the number of categories will be expanded from seven to eight with last year¡¯s ¡°Spot News and General News¡± category being split into ¡°Spot News¡± and ¡°General News.¡± The best photo from each category will compete for ¡°Photo of the Year.¡±

He said the total number of prizes will be reduced, from one gold award, two silver awards, three bronze awards and 10 excellence awards in each category to one gold award, one silver award, one bronze award and five excellence awards in each category.

The first CHIPP, which was held in Shenzhen in March this year, attracted 21,627 entries from 1,765 photojournalists and photographers from 76 countries, with 225 photos winning prizes.

Organized by the CPS and sponsored by the Shenzhen Association for International Cultural Exchanges and the Shenzhen Press Group, the CHIPP seeks to be the Chinese version of the Netherlands-based World Press Photo Contest.

¡°Wounded Iraqi Boys¡± by photographer Fares al-Dlimi working for Agency France Press in Iraq¡¯s Fallujah won last year¡¯s ¡°Photo of the Year,¡± swaying the jury with its strong visual impact rendered by grimaces of two Iraqi boys wounded during a U.S. air strike on Iraq.

Editor: Yan