Anyone can participate in designing a new stamp, by submitting their design on the subject My Family – Superteam

17.03.2017

Anyone interested can become a design author of a new stamp issued by Latvijas Pasts, by submitting their drawings on the subject My Family - Superteam. Latvijas Pasts is organizing the fifth stamp design contest the winner of which will be selected by the vote of the social network users, and the winning stamp will be released with a print run of half a million copies as early as May 2017.

From March 15 to April 5, 2017, anyone interested, regardless of whether they are a private individual or a business entity, may send in their idea for the stamp design on the subject My Family - Superteam through the website http://jaunapastmarka.lv. The subject My Family - Superteam is very broad and encompasses not only the family in its literal meaning, but also, for instance, friends as part of a family to go traveling or plan thrilling adventures with, etc.

All the entries will be initially assessed by a competent jury, composed of both representatives of Latvijas Pasts and the parents' organization Mammamuntetiem.lv, as well as graphic design and digital communication professionals. Then, out of the 30 jury-shortlisted most original samples, the winner will be chosen by the social network users, who will have opportunity to vote for their favorite stamp design by logging-in on the website http://jaunapastmarka.lv/ via their Twitter, Facebook or Draugiem accounts from April 7 to April 17. The winner of the contest will be announced on April 18^th.

The winning stamp of the contest will be released with a print run of 500,000 copies and a denomination of € 0.50, that corresponds to the regular letter mailing cost within the territory of Latvia. The new stamp will be released on May 15, 2017, which is celebrated as the International Day of Families. In addition to the chance of seeing the self-designed stamp travel to countries far and near, the winner of the competition will receive a special prize to eternalize the adventures of his or her family superteam with – the new GoPro Hero 5 Session action camera.

The stamp design contest, which is being held for the sixth time, has become a popular tradition of Latvijas Pasts giving general public an opportunity to get involved in the stamp creation process. The stamp design contest, which is being held for the sixth time, has become a popular tradition of Latvijas Pasts giving general public an opportunity to get involved in the stamp creation process. Normally the stamp creation plan is determined by a special Stamp Issue Committee.

The stamp designed by Toms Rutkovskis won the previous contest held by Latvijas Pasts in 2016 in collaboration with the bicycle brand Erenpreiss (Ērenpreiss) to honor the 125^th anniversary of its founder Gustavs Erenpreiss. A total of 210 stamp design sketches were submitted for the contest, which received 9,097 votes.

During the previous contest in 2014 organized by Latvijas Pasts in collaboration with TV3 on the topic - Latvia’s Pride, a total of 234 stamp design sketches were submitted and 6,385 votes cast for the shortlisted entries by the users of the social networks Twitter, Facebook and Draugiem. The winner was Solvita Kukle's stamp Singing Trees.

The winning stamp of 2013 was Imants Ziedonis Will Bloom Eternally created by Anda Petersone (Anda Pētersone), while in 2012 it was the design by Janis Uzraugs (Jānis Uzraugs) depicting a BMX racer; but 2011 saw Evita Eidinta's stamp The Place Where Stories Are Born win the contest. 

Detailed information about the new stamp design competition, the rules and the jury is available here.

See a video of the new stamp design competition here.

See the winning stamps of the previous year design competitions 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 more than 4,200 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by TNS Latvia, 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 TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.

Additional information:
Gundega Vārpa
Head of External Communications 
Phone: +371 67608505
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv; gundega.varpa@pasts.lv
twitter.com/latvijas_pasts; 
facebook.com/latvijas.pasts