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29.01.2019
The first irregularly shaped postage stamp ever issued in Latvia has been recognised as the most beautiful stamp of 2018 in the competition held for the third time by Latvijas Pasts and the news portal Delfi. The stamp is dedicated to the centenary of the state and designed as the outline map of Latvia, featuring the colours of the state flag. A total of 1,242 votes were cast for this stamp. The stamp which received the second biggest number of votes portrays the visit of Pope Francis to Latvia last September. The third place was traditionally earned by the stamp related to the ornithology theme in the series Latvian Birds, which depicts the long-tailed tit.
The competition Gada pastmarka (Stamp of the Year) organised by Latvijas Pasts and the news portal Delfi for the third time was held from the 14th to the 27th of January 2019, and a total of 10,167 votes were cast for the participating stamps. The stamp released in honour of the centenary of the Latvian state, which is also the first stamp of irregular shape issued by Latvijas Pasts, ranked first with an overwhelming majority of votes. It is designed as the outline map of Latvia, coloured as the state flag and has a self-adhesive base, which makes it easy to use not only as a traditional postage stamp but also as a representation souvenir. The print run of the stamp is one million copies.
The runner-up of the competition is the stamp associated with one of the historical events in Latvia in 2018 – the visit of Francis, the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church on 24 September last year. This stamp received 791 votes.
Postage stamps on the theme of the environment traditionally get high rankings in the competitions Stamp of the Year organised by Latvijas Pasts and Delfi, and this time the stamp Long-Tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) in the series Latvian Birds was recognised as the third most favourite stamp of 2018 by the public, receiving 693 votes.
All the three winning stamps have been designed by the artist Ģirts Grīva.
The fourth place was also earned by the stamp, which is related to the centenary of the state and is a reissue of the first stamp released in the independent Latvia in 1918. The author of the stamp is the artist Ansis Cīrulis who also designed the Latvian national flag standard.
A total of 9,774 votes were cast in the competition Stamp of the Year in 2017, and Western Yellow Wagtail, a stamp in the Latvian Birds series, was recognised as the most favourite stamp.
The winning stamps in the competition Stamp of the Year 2018 can be viewed here. All stamps released in 2018 are available for viewing here.
About SJSC Latvijas Pasts
Latvijas Pasts ensures the widest availability of postal services throughout Latvia by maintaining more than 600 post offices. The primary function of the company is provision of the universal postal service; Latvijas Pasts also provides commercial transport, express mail, payment, press subscription, retail and philatelic services. Latvijas Pasts is a wholly State-owned company with around 4,000 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by Kantar TNS, one of the leading market, social and media research agencies in Latvia. In turn, the quality measurements of the cross-border deliveries are provided within the framework of the International Post Corporation through the intermediary of the research companies Kantar TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.
Additional information:
Gundega Vārpa | Head of External Communications
Phone: +371 67608505
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv; gundega.varpa@pasts.lv
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