“Imagine you are a super hero and your mission is to make all roads around the world safer for children. Write a letter to someone explaining which super powers you would need to achieve your mission.” – that’s the brief for this year’s edition of the Universal Postal Union’s annual International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People. Set in partnership with the UN Road Safety Fund (UNRSF), this year’s theme recognizes road safety as a critical component of UPU’s mission and is organized in support of the UN Second Decade of Action for Road Safety.
The UPU’s secretariat, the International Bureau, chooses a theme annually and publicizes it each year. Participating countries then organize the competition at the national level through the Post, often with the support of the educational authorities and media.
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 the enjoyment of letter writing and helps strengthen the bonds of international friendship.
Visual support material as well as promotional assets including posters in multiple languages, competition rules, social media cards, hashtags and sample messaging can be downloaded from this Trello board: https://bit.ly/ilwc2023 (continuously updated).
An international jury complied by the International Bureau judges the letters and selects the overall winners and candidates that merit a special mention.
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