PHILIPSBURG:--- Postal Services St. Maarten (PSS) N.V.in collaboration with the Department of Education has announced the start of an island-wide contest to find the island's best young letter writer.
Youth between the age of nine (9) and fifteen (15) have until the deadline date of April 17, 2015 to write an attention-grabbing letter under the theme "Tell us about the world you want to grow up in."
The best letter selected by a panel of judges will be entered into an international letter writing competition organized by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) each year, where Platinum, Gold and Silver medals are awarded to the three best letters from around the world.
PSS N.V. says it is the first time St. Maarten will be entering the prestigious contest, which, in the past, was open only to one representative from either Curacao, Aruba or St. Maarten.
"Due to the cooperation of the postal authorities in Curacao and Aruba and also due to a special request to the UPU, St. Maarten has been granted permission to present a letter writer from the island for the first time. We are very exciting at the prospect and would encourage all of the island's youth and schools to submit their letters for the contest," said PSS N.V. in a prepared release.
The local postal authority will be awarding some fabulous prizes of a Kindle Fire, E-reader and Smartphone to the local Platinum, Gold and Silver prize-winners respectively.
PSS N.V. has thanked Acting Head of the Division for Education Innovation, Ms. Oralie Boirard, for agreeing to have her department coordinate the promotion and of the letter-writing event and make contact with the island's schools.
"We are all agreed that this competition will do a lot to focus the attention of our youth on something that is very positive for the youth, the schools they represent and also for Country St. Maarten," said PSS N.V. Commercial and Business development Manager Ms. Zaira Paulo.
Ms. Paulo says the names of the local winners will be officially announced on April 27 after which the top letter will be submitted to the UPU before the deadline of April 30.
Once final judging takes place, a grand ceremony will be held for the international winners on October 9th– World Post Day - when the anniversary of the foundation of the UPU is celebrated.
Ms. Paulo said in a world where communication is dominated by e-mail, online gaming, blogging, internet and SMS messaging, the importance of clear letter writing has never been more important.
"That is why the UPU is keen to remind populations about the power of the written word and the sending and receiving of mail in the traditional way," continued Ms. Paulo.
"The letter-writing contest is part of our contribution towards educating our community by promoting good writing, grammar and spelling skills amongst our youth," said the PSS N.V. Commercial and Business Development Manager.
The organizers and coordinators of the letter-writing contest are meantime advising all schools and potential contestants to read the rules of the contest thoroughly to ensure they comply with all the requirements regarding the theme, word length and ways of submitting their entries.
Copies of the rules are available upon request at any Post Office branch or from the Division for Educational Innovation (attention Mr. Marvin Woods) – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
