2014 International Letter-Writing Competition For Young People

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The Universal Postal Union (UPU) organizes the International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People annually. The competition was created by the 1969 Tokyo Congress and officially launched in 1971. Since then, millions of young people all over the world, up to age 15, have participated in the competition at national and international levels.

The competition is an excellent way of making young people aware of the important role postal services play in our societies, develops their skills in composition and the ability to express their thoughts clearly, fosters their enjoyment of letter writing, and helps strengthen the bonds of international friendship – one of the basic missions of the UPU.

Each year, the UPU International Bureau chooses a theme. Participating countries organize the competition at the national level through the post, often with the support of education authorities and the media. All entries must be submitted through the national Post. Each country chooses a national winner and submits one entry for the UPU international competition. Entries must reach the UPU International Bureau no later than 30 April each year.

2014 Topic

“Write a letter describing how music can touch lives.”

Organizer

The Universal Postal Union (UPU)

Prizes

The first three international winners will receive medals (gold for the first, silver for the second and bronze for the third) struck by the IB, as well as a certificate and other prizes offered by the UPU.
Member countries may also award additional prizes to their international prize-winners, at their discretion.
It is recommended that the prize-giving ceremonies be held on 9 October, the anniversary of the foundation of the UPU, to form part of the activities connected with World Post Day.

Deadline

30 April, 2014

Guidelines

• The best letter from each country must be submitted to the International Bureau no later than 30 April 2014.
• Young people up to the age of 15 years may take part in the competition.
• The UPU International Bureau (IB) cannot accept entries sent directly by schools or private individuals
• The organizers designated by member countries must respect the competition’s organizational principles, which specify that they are solely responsible for organizing the national stage of the competition and therefore must provide all the parties concerned with their own contact details and not those of the IB.
• The organizers should select their country’s best composition (one composition per country or territory only) and send it to the IB no later than 30 April.
• All entries must be submitted by post, by e-mail to gisele.coron@upu.int or by fax to: +41 31 350 37 11.
• All entries must include:

# the composition (typed) in either Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish. If the original is handwritten, the organizer should type up the text on a computer and submit the original with a translation into English, French or Spanish (as preferred) of the original composition if it has been written in a language other than those mentioned above.

#a cover letter from the organizing body.

#a duly completed entry form, including the contact details of the candidate and the national competition coordinator; this form is available here.

# a good quality digital photograph of the candidate, preferably in JPEG format (at least 300 dpi).

• The compositions submitted must be recent, unpublished letters.
• Compositions must be presented in the form of a letter (“Dear ……..”, include the address of both the addressee and the sender, and end with a signature).
• Entries must strictly respect the set theme.
• Entries must strictly adhere to the number of words permitted in the original language (between 500 and 800).
• Each member country organizes a letter-writing competition for young people in its territory as suits it best, but preferably with the help of the national education authorities, and selects the best entry. The best entry is chosen in accordance with the general rules of the competition.
• Participating member countries must send their best entry to the IB, together with all the required documents, to the IB by no later than 30 April.
• The IB will designate a jury responsible for assessing the letters selected. This jury will choose the best three entries, the authors of which will each receive a medal, and may also select up to five other entries, whose authors will receive a special mention.
  The IB will inform the countries concerned of the results by letter.
• The IB will communicate the names of the prize-winners by letter as soon as it receives the results from the jury, in principle no later than early September of the competition year.

Inquiries

Questions? Send the organizers an e-mail to gisele.coron@upu.int or contact them by fax to: +41 31 350 37 11.