There has been a change of the winner of the new stamp design contest My Family – Superteam held by Latvijas Pasts and the parents’ organisation Mammamuntetiem.lv, and the winner now is Ervīns Elliņš. The winning stamp of the contest will be released on the 15th of May, the International Day of Families, in whose honour Latvijas Pasts is going to implement the concept of a parents-friendly post office in the second of its post offices. The first day cancellation of the stamp is scheduled to take place in Riga post office No. 50 located in the shopping centre Origo, 2 Stacijas laukums, Riga, from 8 AM to 7 PM on the same day.
The change of the stamp design contest winner has been made in accordance with the competition rules as a result of discovering non-compliance with copyright, which has also been admitted by the previously nominated contest winner. Therefore the title of the contest winner has now been awarded to the contestant who received the next largest number of votes. This is Ervīns Elliņš whose stamp design sketch earned 758 of the 5,690 votes cast by social network users. Consequently, the second place goes to Nils Ulass and the third – to Inese Mierkalne.
The winning stamp of the contest will be released with a print run of 500,000 copies on the 15th of May, the International Day of Families. The face value of one stamp will be € 0.50, corresponding to the cost of sending a regular letter within Latvia. This is also the day when the first day cancellation of the stamp is planned to take place in Riga post office No. 50, which will start its operation as a parents-friendly post office based on the concept created in collaboration with the parents’ organisation Mammamuntetiem.lv.
The parents-friendly post office features a number of elements. First, there is a special service button For new parents in the customer flow control system, which provides for the priority service for expecting mothers and new parents with children up to the age of seven. Second, there is a specially created children’s corner, where the fittings are made of Latvian wood and where eco-friendly paints have been used. It has a special design that presents information of the operation of Latvijas Pasts in a fun way. It is possible to “take a ride” in a miniature company’s car across the outline of Latvia, showing the company’s daily mail exchange routes throughout the country, as well as to fill in several different types of postcards.
This is already the sixth new stamp design contest of Latvijas Pasts that has been held this year in collaboration with the parents’ organisation Mammamuntetiem.lv, calling for entries for the stamp design ideas on the subject My Family – Superteam. A total of 227 design sketches were submitted for the contest, of which 20 entries were shortlisted for the final vote by the members of the jury, composed of experts in graphic design, philately and family matters. The voting, which was open for the social network users of Twitter, Facebook or Draugiem accounts, ran from the 7th to the 17th of April.
The stamp design contest has become a tradition of Latvijas Pasts, offering the general public an opportunity to get involved in the stamp creation process. In the day-to-day practice the issue of stamps is determined by the special Stamp Issue Committee.
The stamp designed by Toms Rutkovskis won the stamp design contest of 2016, which was held by Latvijas Pasts in collaboration with the legendary bicycle brand Ērenpreiss. Solvita Kukle’s stamp Singing Trees won in the contest organised by Latvijas Pasts together with TV3 on the topic of Latvia’s Pride in 2014. The winning stamp of 2013 was Imants Ziedonis Will Bloom Eternally created by Anda Pētersone, while the winning stamp of 2012 was designed by Jānis Uzraugs and depicted a BMX racer. The winner of the 2011 contest was Evita Eidinta with the stamp The Place Where Stories Are Born.
