BERLIN, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Berlin Zoo pocketed three panda prizes in the Giant Panda Global Awards, its was announced at an official awarding ceremony held in Berlin on Thursday, after more than 300,000 panda fans from all over the world cast their votes.

Berlin Zoo was nominated in five of the twelve categories, and picked up three awards in total, including a gold in the category of "Panda Moment of the Year" for the official opening of its Panda Garden, a gold in the category of "Favorite Panda Outside of China" for its panda star Meng Meng, and a bronze in the category "Most Beautiful Panda Zoo Enclosure".

Giant Panda Global Awards, namely the Oskar in the panda world, were initiated by Jeroen Jacobs, founder of the Giant Panda Global website, as a platform to draw attention to the threat facing giant pandas and to promote conservation efforts.

Zoos around the world vie to prove the excellence of their panda keeping and awareness-raising activities through participating in the awards.

Voter participation in this year's awards was record-breaking. "More than 300,000 votes were cast from 127 countries", said Jeroen Jacobs. And German citizens made an important contribution to the success of their pandas, as Germany cast the fifth-highest number of votes, behind only China, France, the United States, and Indonesia.

The male panda Jiao Qing, born in 2010, and the female one Meng Meng, born in 2013, arrived in Berlin in June 2017 from the panda breeding and research base in Chengdu, southwest China. The panda pair will stay in Berlin Zoo, the oldest in Germany, for 15 years. Enditem