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01.02.2018
Voters have acknowledged the Latvian Birds series stamp dedicated to Latvia’s Bird of the Year 2017 western yellow wagtail as the most beautiful stamp of 2017 in a poll organized by Latvijas Pasts and the news portal Delfi. This stamp received 1119 votes. The second place is shared by two stamps having the same number of votes: the first one featuring one of the unique exhibits of Riga Motor Museum - the automobile Krastin built in 1903, the other - depicting European badger in the series Latvian nature. The third place goes to the stamp in the series Europa – Castles featuring the image of Cesvaine Castle.
The contest Stamp of The Year, which was held for the second time by Latvijas Pasts and the news portal Delfi took place from the 15th to the 29th of January 2018 and saw a total of 9,774 votes. The winning stamp is dedicated to Western Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) that has been selected by the Latvian Ornithological Society as Latvia’s Bird of the Year 2017; since 1995 its population in Latvia has declined by 95%.
The second largest number of votes - 779 - is shared by two stamps: the first stamp of the newly created series in 2017 The History of Latvian Automobile Construction - The Unique Exhibits of Riga Motor Museum depicting Krastin automobile and the stamp European Badger (Meles meles) in the series Latvian Nature.
One of the stamps depicts the automobile named Krastin built by the Latvian automobile engineer Augusts Krastins (Augusts Krastiņš) in 1903, the only surviving sample of which is found in Riga Motor Museum. But European Badger has been included in the series Latvian Nature as Latvia’s Animal of the Year 2016 being one of the largest carnivorous animals in the family Mustelidae in Latvia.
The honourable third place with 541 votes is taken by the stamp Cesvaine Castle in the series Europa - Castles - the stamps of this series with a common theme for entire Europe are issued in all countries within PostEurop Association.
The design author of the three winning stamps is the artist Girts Griva (Ģirts Grīva), but the visual depiction of Cesvaine Castle was created by the artist Ludis Danilans (Ludis Danilāns).
"The results of the contest reveal that Latvian society loves and respects the living nature, unique values, and the historic heritage. It is clearly demonstrated by the winning stamp with the image of the western yellow wagtail, once again makings us pay attention to the fact that the intensive agriculture is one of the threats to yellow wagtails not only in Latvia, but also in other European countries," stresses the director of Stamp and Philately Department of Latvijas Pasts, Edmunds Bebriss (Edmunds Bebrišs).
In the first Stamp of The Year contest organized in cooperation with the news portal Delfi the release dedicated to the 11th World Floorball Championships was selected as the most favourite stamp of 2016; whereas the second and third places were taken by stamps related to ornithological topic.
In 2017 Latvijas Pasts issued 26 stamp releases and two stamp blocks dedicated to a wide spectrum of events and personalities hugely important to Latvia, achieving the total print run of 6.5 million stamps. The complete collection of the last year's stamps can be viewed 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 about 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 | Mobile phone: +371 26628729
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv; gundega.varpa@pasts.lv
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