International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People

Since 1971, the UPU has encouraged young writers aged 9-15 to write letters on a given theme to win exciting prizes. The competition is an excellent way of making young people aware of the important role postal services play in our societies. It develops their skills in composition and their ability to express thoughts clearly. It also fosters enjoyment of letter writing and helps strengthen the bonds of international friendship. 

The UPU's secretariat, the International Bureau, chooses a theme annually and publicises it. Participating countries then organize the competition at the national level through the Post, often with the support of the educational authorities and media. All entries must be submitted through the national Post. Each country chooses a national winner and submits them as the country entry to the UPU international competition no later than 5 May of the year in question.

  • Read the first-prize letters from 50 years of the UPU's International Letter-Writing Competition. 
  • Mi-kyong Ryu – 11, Korea (Rep.)
    Theme for 7th International Letter Writing Competition for Young People «The postman, my best friend»

2021 Competition

This year, 2021, the UPU is proud to be running its 50th international letter-writing competition.  All of our participating member countries have consistently encouraged youth to develop their literacy skills and to focus on a particular subject. The competition is an excellent means of promoting literacy among youth and contributes to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The COVID pandemic has had a major impact on the way we work and live.  And it hasn't stopped yet! We continue to be profoundly affected by the virus. How have young people in particular felt about these momentous changes? This year's theme sets out to explore their experiences as we ask them to "write a letter to a family member about your experience with COVID.19."

All member countries are invited to participate by organizing a competition at the national level before sending their top composition to the UPU. Each country's winning letter must be submitted to the International Bureau no later than 5 May 2021.

2021 Winners

  • Miss Nubaysha Islam, fourteen year old from Bangladesh won this year's 50th International Letter Writing Competition for her letter to her baby sister about her experience of COVID.
  • Bruno Ivanovski, a 14-year-old from North Macedonia received the second prize for his letter to his grandma about how he hasn’t seen her for a year and misses her greatly. (In French)
  • Dao Anh Thu,14-years-old, from Viet Nam received the third prize for her letter to her younger sister.

Special mentions

There were also special mentions for the letters of these young people from: 

  • Belarus, Gleb Klimovich, 14 years-old
  • Brazil, Luisa Tejo Salgado Catâo, 14 years-old
  • Turkey, Adnan Yigit AIkan, 13 years-old
  • Indonesia, Nur Eka Syahrina Ramadhani Basyar 11 years-old
  • Libya, Elaf Abdel Hakim Al-Ajil


Communication Support Material

To launch and promote the competition in your country, we have produced a set of support communication material. This includes a poster that can be adapted accordingly to reflect your competition,  The material is available to download in the following languages; Arabic, English, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian.



2020 Winners

The theme selected for the 2020 competition was: “Write a message to an adult about the world we live in”.