The Supreme People's Court of China launched a campaign for selecting the nation's top ten judges in 2005 by public polling on Tuesday.

 

The campaign is co-sponsored by the Supreme Court, China Central Television (CCTV) and other two nation-wide newspapers, which will broadcast and publish stories of 33 candidate judges.

 

The Supreme Court has recognized the candidate judges recommended by each provincial High Court, as well as the branch court in Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and the court-martial.

 

Audiences can submit their votes in paper form, online and Short-Message-Service (SMS) by mobile devices. Li Ke, a senior official of the Supreme Court said that the public polling of top ten judges is way to build up judge's images among the people and enhance the public reputation of the judiciary.

 

The votes will be collected and calculated by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the top ten judges will be awarded a "Golden Mallet."

 

The winners will be announced in February 2006, according to the Supreme Court.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2005)