TEHRAN -- The first logo of the World Olympiad for Urban Design (WOUD) was selected on Saturday at the Iranian Academy of Art.

A jury of ten famous Iranian artists and architects awarded Cypriot Sani Karosoglu’s entry first place and chose his design as the Olympiad’s permanent logo.

At the awards ceremony for the international logo design competition, the chairman of the International Art and Architecture Research Association (IAARA), Reza Purvaziri, said that since Iran is one of the most important influences on the development of world civilization, it has been chosen as the event’s first host.

The Iranian cities of Shiraz and Eslamshahr will host the first World Olympiad for Urban Design, which IAARA will organize in 2008 under the auspices of UN-HABITAT.

Some 165 of the 208 designs submitted to the competition were from Iran, and 43 designs were sent from other countries.