BEIJING - A county in Northern China that offered jobs at local public institutions as part of a prize in a mayor's awards program has drawn flak over a practice that breaks government rules.

Two local government departments and four individuals won the prize in March last year, and each received 10,000 yuan ($1,600) in rewards and promises of jobs at local public institutions for their children, a document issued by the local government in Yanshan county of Hebei province said.

The prizes were meant to reward their contributions to the county's economic and social development in the past year, it said.

The document appeared online last week and set off a media storm over alleged unfairness, as the county's awards breach State rules that public institutions should take on employees by open recruitment.

The publicity department in the county declined to comment yesterday.

According to the document, the six recipients of the prize were: the local public security bureau; the commerce bureau; the head of the local State tax bureau, surnamed Cao; the head of the human resources and social security bureau, surnamed Li; a teacher surnamed Zhang with Yanshan High School; and a village Party secretary surnamed Zhang.

The heads of the two government departments were also promised jobs for their children, which would place them in the county's public institutions last year.

The county provided two other awards for local companies last year, the document said. Ten companies received the "Tax-paying Hero Prize", and three companies were awarded for soliciting businesses.

Owners of these companies were also promised positions at the local public institutions for someone they selected.

Unidentified sources said that the prizes had been in place since at least 2008.

Another official document that appeared online at the same time said four local government agencies and one official won the "County Mayor Special Prize" this year for their work in 2010. And 10 companies were awarded other prizes in return for paying taxes and soliciting businesses.

The prizes also included the allocation of job offers at local public institutions.