The news conference for the "Most Beautiful Teacher" award is held in Hangzhou on the night of Sept 7. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

East China's Zhejiang province hosted a news conference on Sept 7 to commend the province's outstanding teachers ahead of China's Teachers' Day, which falls on Sept 10.

The conference announced the 10 winners and 20 nominees for the title of "Most Beautiful Teacher" as well as winners of other honorary titles including "Pioneering Teacher in Special Education".

This is the fourth year that Zhejiang has given out the "Most Beautiful Teacher" award. This year's selection process began on April 27 and took more than four months. Local governments and universities across the province provided a total of 174 candidates, including 73 university lecturers, 64 middle school teachers, and 37 primary school and kindergarten teachers. The selection process included multiple rounds of recommendations, expert reviews, and online voting.

The 10 "Most Beautiful Teacher" title holders have been teaching for 22 years on average. Some of them have spent decades in remote rural schools and have educated hundreds of students. Their high moral standards and teaching expertise have set a strong example for other teachers in the province.