On Wednesday the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) launched a worldwide campaign to solicit photographic images featuring smiling children's faces for potential use in the Games' opening and closing ceremonies.

"Photos that depict a full frontal image of the face of a smiling or laughing child are all welcome," BOCOG said in a statement. "But the photos should never have been publicly used or displayed for commercial purposes and the child must be under the age of 10."

The entries must be at least 5 million pixels, in color, and be bright and sharp. Photos meeting these requirements taken by ordinary digital cameras are acceptable.

The deadline for submitting photos is April 30, 2008.

BOCOG said that the exact creative use of the photos remains confidential for the time being to preserve the element of surprise and to support the best presentation of creative ideas in the Ceremonies.

The organizers have been tight-lipped on details about the opening ceremony of the 2008 Games. Last month, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, picked as the chief director of the Olympics Ceremonies, said that they would soon embark on rehearsing the ceremonies.

The Beijing Olympic Games will start on August 8, 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2007)