For the 2012 International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People, participants will write to an athlete or sports figure about the Olympic ideal. Medals should be announced just in time for the London Games.
Young writers will be asked to write a letter to a sports personality they admire about what the Olympics mean to them for the 2012 UPU International Letter-Writing Competition. The theme for the 41st edition of the contest was chosen to honour the 2012 Olympic Games to be held in London.
The competition will be open to youth aged 9-15 in participating countries, as in previous years. Once countries have chosen their winning national letters, these will be sent to the UPU’s International Bureau by April 30, 2012. An independent jury will select the overall winners of the international competition from these compositions. Winners will likely be announced in August 2012.
All 191 member countries are eligible to participate.
"I strongly encourage all UPU member countries, those that have supported the competition in the past and those that have never participated, to seriously consider taking part," UPU Director General Edouard Dayan said in a letter to Posts. "The Olympic movement aims to create a better world through sport and to promote three universal values, excellence, friendship and respect. These form an excellent base from which the young people are invited to express themselves on the theme of the Olympic movement and its meaning to them."
Celebrating forests
For the 2011 competition, the UPU received entries from 61 countries on the theme:
"Imagine you are a tree living in a forest. Write a letter to someone to tell them why it is important to protect forests."
The topic was chosen to coincide with the United Nations International Year of Forests. The entry deadline passed on April 30.
An international jury of experts in forestry conservation will now judge the letters and choose first, second and third prize winners. Members include Jan McAlpine, director of the UN Forum on Forests secretariat, Jean-Paul Paddack, director of network initiatives support at the World Wildlife Fund, and Daniel Shaw, communications officer of the forest conservation programme at the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The UPU will be represented on the jury by Jean-François Thivet, a philately expert with a passion for forests. Competition results are expected to be announced in August.
The UPU has organized an international letter-writing competition for youth since 1972. Nearly two million young people from six continents participated last year, writing about the importance of protecting oneself against AIDS.