The 2009 Education Abroad Photo Contest is up and running.

And UC Davis students want your vote.

From now until Nov. 15, everyone is invited to choose their favorite photos taken by students who traveled abroad during the 2008-09 academic year.

Voting is being carried out online: educationabroadcontest.ucdavis.edu. Simply register, then vote for as many photos as you want. You can return to the site, log in and vote for more photos, although you can vote only once per photo.

Winners will be announced on Nov. 16, at the beginning of International Education Week.

UC Davis educational leaders believe studying abroad is important for students because it widens their vistas, said Zak Frieders, associate director of the Education Abroad Center.

“Most of what we do these days has an international component: media, politics, business, everything,” Frieders said. “It’s a global economy, it’s a global market, a global world.”

A major goal of the contest is to entice more students into studying in another country, he said.

This year, more than 1,300 students were invited to submit photos; more than 500 photo entries were submitted.

More information.