“Generous Ukraine” wins again

Ukrposhta has announced the results of the national contest “Best Postage Stamp of 2013.” It was open to every Ukrainian, representing different parts of the country. First place went to art postage stamp block “Generous Ukraine. Fall” by artist Natalia Kokhal, the second place to “The Beauty and Grandeur of Ukraine. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea” by Oleksandr Kalmykov, while postage stamp block “A Ukrainian Farmyard” put its creator Kost Lavro at the third place

“The best stamp contest is a very interesting and valuable philatelic project for Ukrposhta,” said the enterprise’s acting director general Mykhailo Pankiv. “Every year, we see eloquent confirmation of it in the active voting of people from different parts of Ukraine. The Ukrainians’ chosen postage stamp clearly highlights all the beauty of distinctive Ukrainian culture and natural world of our land. Every Ukrainian who sent a filled-in questionnaire back to our office contributed to our effort to create history of our country.”

The contest’s winner Kokhal admitted that she found working with stamps personally interesting because there was a certain element of display of patriotism to it: “Postage stamp is one of the symbols of the state which represent Ukraine in the world. It is a hallmark of our country. Ukrainian stamps have found their aficionados all over the world, they are recognized and distinguished among other philatelic products due to their unique national flavor. It is really very nice. For an artist, it is important to feel useful and needed, and winning a competition is a kind of incentive for further fruitful work and development.”

The organizers were pleasantly surprised to see Kalmykov’s work devoted to the Crimean theme at the second place. The artist’s stamps depict cultural heritage, historical monuments and favorite tourist destinations of Crimea, the pearl of Ukraine. In their turn, the Ukrainians proved their love for Crimea with this choice.

Along with choosing the best stamps of Ukraine for 2013, Ukrposhta’s competent jury has chosen by lot winners among the people who voted for the best stamps. They are Liudmyla Savenko from Donetsk oblast, Darii Serkezz from Uzhhorod and Natalia Tsapenko from Odesa. Authors of the best stamp and winning respondents received gifts – annual sets of Ukrainian stamps for 2013.

Let us remark that artist Kokhal won the best postage stamp contest before. Her postage stamp blocks “Generous Ukraine. Spring” and “Generous Ukraine. Summer” won the popular vote in 2011 and 2012, respectively, and occupied the place of honor at philatelic exhibitions.