31.10.2011

The winner of the unique stamp design competition, organized by Latvijas Pasts in Latvia for the first time, is the stamp The Place Where Stories Are Born, designed by Evita Eidinta. This design concept will be brought to life in a new stamp, which will be released in 2012 with a print run of 500,000 stamps and a face value of LVL 0.35. A total of 4503 people cast their votes for their favorite designs.

The Place Where Stories Are Bornis a stamp design depicting the lions of Vērmanes Garden and the nearby tree-encircled building of restaurant Bibliotēka Nr. 1. The competition between this concept and the closest follower - Ice Flower - was very fierce, especially on the last day of voting, October 28, when a video supporting the Ice Flower was published online, while certain radio stations urged to vote for The Place Where Stories Are Born. In the end, Ice Flower placed second with 683 votes, while the third place with 595 votes was taken by the Hipster-hedgehog, whose supporters were also among the most active.

The fourth place with 431 votes was taken by the stamp design Rooster. The other competitors received a lower number of votes: Languages - 284 votes, I love Latvia! - 204 votes, Delicious Latvia - 195 votes, Kuldīga - 169 votes, Inspiring Riga - 169 votes, Bird - 108 votes.

To promote the work of  Latvijas Pasts and one of the universal symbols of mail - the postage stamp - Latvijas Pasts involved the public in the creation of a stamp by using the possibilities offered by social networks. 412 stamp designs were initially submitted for the competition, authored by both natural persons and legal entities, of which 343 fulfilled the conditions of the competition and were published on the website www.jaunapastmarka.lv. A committee of philatelic experts, advertising specialists and graphical designers selected 30 designs, for which anyone could vote from October 24 to 28 by using a Twitter, Draugiem.lv or Facebook account.

"The activity of voters in the competition proves that the stamp, in spite of the role of modern technologies in everyday communication, is a very important national "business card", and a large part of the society has an opinion about what design it should have. Therefore, we will definitely consider organizing such contests again," says Aigars Vītols, chair of the board of Latvijas Pasts, while thanking all participants and voters.

The winning concept will be realized in January 2012 with a print run of at least 500,000 stamps; the denomination of the stamp will be LVL 0.35. Latvijas Pasts releases an average of 12-16 new stamp designs and up to 7 million stamps every year, which travel all over the world on letters and other postal items. The stamp themes and subjects for each year are chosen by the special Stamp Issue Commission. However, in order to create a stamp with the participation of as many people of Latvia as possible, Latvijas Pasts gave everyone the opportunity to submit a stamp design.

In addition to the reward of seeing the stamp with her design travelling to near and far countries of the world, the designer of the most popular concept will also receive a prize - the opportunity to create a unique set of personalized stamps.

About VAS 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 philately, transport and express mail, financial intermediation, payment, press subscription and retail services. Latvijas Pasts is a fully state-owned company with approximately 4600 employees.

Additional information:
Gundega Vārpa,
VAS Latvijas Pasts
Head of the External Communications Department
Phone: +371 67608505
E-mail: gundega.varpa@pasts.lv
www.pasts.lv