Lao students to attend global natural history contest in Chi

VIENTIANE, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Lao students will participate in the Global Natural History Day Contest taking place on July 19-25 in southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality.

The top three teams recently defeated nine other teams to attend the upcoming contest, reported Lao state-run daily Vientiane Times on Tuesday.

The three teams will each present a topic relating to the theme "Scale of Nature: Micro to Macro." The teams come from Lao northern Xayaboury and Xiengkhuang provinces.

They will compete to win a certificate and gold medal for first prize, a certificate and silver medal for second prize, and certificate and bronze medal for third prize.

This is the third year that Lao schoolchildren have attended the Global Natural History Day Contest. In 2016, Lao student teams excelled at the contest in China's Shanghai, winning a gold medal, a silver medal and two bronze medals.

More than 90 teams from China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia and the United States took part in the Natural History Day Contest last year.

The contest is a well-rounded program for elementary school to high school students, with the aim of inspiring young people to take an active role in preserving the planet's environment and wildlife. Each year, participants select topics which are related to the theme of that year and carry out their own research projects.

The first Global Natural History Day was launched in 2012 with 288 student teams and since then the program has continued to grow, with more students from a growing list of cities and countries participating each year. Since 2012, more than 7,138 students have joined the contest, according to its website.