MANILA, (PIA) -- The Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost), through the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), invites young people aged 15 years-old and below to participate in its 53rd International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People, to strengthen literacy through the art of letter-writing.

The contest is designed to develop the young people’s skills in composition and the ability to express their thoughts clearly, to foster their enjoyment of letter-writing and to help strengthen the bonds of international friendship – one of the basic missions of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a specialized agency of the United Nations wherein PHLPost is an active member.

At 150 years old, the UPU has served people around the world for more than eight generations. The world has changed enormously since then. The theme for this year’s letter writing is: “Write a letter to future generations about the world you hope they inherit”.

• All entries must be recent, unpublished, and original letters.
• Entries to the competition must be written in English and should be handwritten, adhering strictly to the theme.
• Submissions should not exceed 800 words and must contain the basic elements of a letter – heading, salutation, body of the letter, complimentary close and signature.
• The contest committee has the right to test the winning participant on the originality of his/her entry.

PHLPost reminded the participants to indicate in a separate sheet of paper the following information: number of words of the letter composition, participant’s complete name and home address, gender of the participant, age and date of birth, colored digital photo of the participant (jpeg format), name and address of school including year or grade level of participant, and contact number of the school and the participant.

Entries should be placed in a brown envelope and submitted strictly via PHLPost Domestic Express Mail Service (DEMS) and sent to the: UPU 53rd International Letter Writing Competition for Young People (2024), Office of the Postmaster General, Philippine Postal Corporation, CMEC Post Office, Domestic Road, Brgy. 193 Pasay City 1301, Metro Manila. Entries sent via private couriers such as LBC, DHL, 2Go, JRS Express, among others will be automatically disqualified.

Participants must register and attach a scanned copy of the original entry (PDF format) and his/her picture (jpeg format) at https://tinyurl.com/PHLPost -Letter-Writing before its mailing.

The contest period is from 20 March 2024 to 05 April 2024. Final winner must be determined not later than 12 April 2024.

Judging will be based on relevance to the theme of the composition (30 percent), imagination and originality of the contents (20 percent), demonstrates a good style of writing and communication (20 percent), demonstrates an extensive vocabulary (20 percent), and youthfulness of the tone (10 percent).

First prize for the contest will receive P20,000 cash, a medal and certificate, second prize will receive P15,000, a medal and certificate, and third prize will receive P10,000, a medal and certificate. The First Prize winning entry will be sent to the International Bureau as the Philippine’s Official Entry to the Letter-Writing Competition for Young People this coming 05 May 2024. (PHLPost/PIA-NCR)