21 December 2020
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The results of the 2020 Europa Stamp Jury Competition have been revealed with Poland taking first place for its stamp showing the postal routes along the Vistula River.
The annual competition asks a special jury of eight philatelic experts to select their favourite stamps issued on the Europa theme for that year, with ‘Postal Routes’ being the theme for 2020. According to PostEurop this year’s judging was held at a later date than usual and in a new hybrid format, with some jurors meeting in person and others discussing the designs over the internet.
Winning stamp from Poland
The winning stamp from Poczta Polska, the post office of Poland, is in a larger, vertical format, allowing the artist to depict the complex routes around the country’s longest and largest river which have been used for communications for centuries.
Expert jurors Stefan Klein and Olaf Neumann, of KommunikationsDesign, said:
‘This year virtual jury-meeting brought a very high-quality result and five really fascinating stamp designs as short-listed winners of the international competition. As the theme, ancient postal routes was not an easy task, we were really surprised by the artists’ solutions. Especially the winning design from Poland with its special proportions in vertical format which expressed the theme in a perfect manner – the colours and technique of the artwork are really modern and perfect for a small stamp.
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'The same can be said about the other four short-listed winners from Switzerland, Germany, Ukraine and the Faroe Islands.
'The whole set of the jury’s favourites shows big parallels: the focus on riding or walking postal couriers or mailmen, the focus on the human aspect behind the postal delivery system and their adventurous and sometimes dangerous journey in former times convinced us and also the other jury members.’
This year’s competition saw three stamps tie for second place for the first time:
- Postverk Føroya (Faroe Islands)
- Swiss Post (Switzerland)
- SC Ukrposhta (Ukraine)
- Deutsche Post (Germany) came third
Botond Szebeny, PostEurop Secretary General, added:
‘When faced with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Postal operators have been quick to adapt and seek alternative affordable solutions to deliver postal items. In a way, the current theme is most appropriate for these challenging times… I would like to congratulate this year’s winners, with special regard to Poczta Polska.’
Since 1956, Europa stamps have been a symbol of Europe’s desire for closer integration and cooperation. These special stamps are issued by the European postal administrations and bear the Europa logo. Since 1993, PostEurop has been responsible for issuing Europa stamps and running the jury competition.