A TOTAL of 19 citizens were on a shortlist for the annul government environmentally friendly award.

Among the candidates are students, entrepreneurs, government officials and engineers.

A 29-year-old art designer, Zhou Ziqian, is on the shortlist for his bicycle tour to promote environmental protection and the Universiade in Shenzhen in August, 2011.

Zhou spent 400 days cycling 32,000 kilometers around the Chinese mainland, taking pictures of 2,011 people. Zhou was chosen to carry the University Games torch into the stadium for the opening ceremony of the Games.

Sharing Zhou’s commitment to environmental protection, Ye Qingqiu, 60, director of the city’s energy saving and emission reduction research office, has a different way to fulfill his commitment.

Born in Bao’an District in Shenzhen, Ye has designed and built ships with low energy consumption. He was also dedicated to researching ways of preventing and controlling floodwaters in the Yangtze River, receiving recognition from water conservation experts.

“If each individual becomes involved, environmental protection will gather much greater momentum,” said Ye.

The detailed information of the 19 candidates has been listed on http://www.szhec.gov.cn, the official Web site of the city’s environmental protection bureau.

Residents can log onto the Web site to cast votes for candidates.

Based on the votes, a selection committee will choose 10 finalists.

Initiated in March 2005, the government environmentally friendly award has been granted to 59 citizens.

British engineer, Harry Walker, won the first government award for environmentalists with his extensive studies of alternative means of generating electricity, understanding tides and capitalizing on wind energy.

(Martin Li)