The Universal Postal Union is organising the 2011 International Letter writing competition. This year’s theme for the competition is ‘Imagine you are a tree living in a forest. Write a letter to someone to explain why it is important to protect forests.’ This year’s theme coincides with the International Year of Forests, which will be celebrated in 2011. The first placed letter will be sent by MaltaPost to the Universal Postal Union.

The first competition was officially launched in 1971 by the Tokyo Congress and has now reached its 40th year. "The competition is an excellent way of making young people aware of the important role postal services play in our socities as well as fostering an appreciation of the art of letter writing," said Joseph Gafà, CEO of MaltaPost "MaltaPost will be awarding three prizes to the first three placed entries submitted for this competition to further encourage students in participating," said Gafa.

Entries must be sent in either Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish. The composition must be in the form of a letter and contains the element of a letter. The letters that are submitted must be recent, unpublished letters. Entrants must adhere strictly to the theme and must not exceed the limit of 800 words. All students up to 15 years of age can take part in the competition. MaltaPost will give a Malta Stamp Collection Album worth about €700 as first prize, second prize will recieve a Malta Stamp Collection Book worth €200 and as third prize a Malta Stamp Collection First Anniversary Pack worth about €50. All participants will recieve a certificate of participation from MaltaPost.

Entries for the 40th International Writing Competition must be sent in by the schools and not by the individual students. The letters are to reach the Human Resources Department at 305, Triq Hal Qormi, Marsa MTP 1011 by not later than noon on Friday 14 January 2011. All submissions should have, on the back of each entry, the name and date of birth of the student as well as the school stamp. For additional information please visit the UPU website www.upu.int/en/ilwc.html.

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