Poczta Polska won the first prize in the EUROPA Stamp 2020 philatelic competition, the subject of which was the former postal routes – the company announced on Thursday. The winning stamp, by Maciej Jędrysiak, shows the most important communication and postal routes functioning in the 16th century.

Winning the competition, in which the first prize was decided by a jury composed of eight outstanding philatelic experts from various backgrounds, including artists, collectors, and bloggers, is an extremely valuable success for the entire Poczta Polska.

"The award confirms the highest skills of Polish artists and is an expression of the recognition of the philatelic community around the world for the Polish post office," Tomasz Zdzikot, president of Poczta Polska, said.

He added that the task was not easy, because the aim of the competition was to show the old postal routes on such a small and demanding area as the stamp field.

As he noted, the project also symbolically shows the essence of interpersonal communication that has been carried out for centuries. 

"The distinction of the Polish publishing house among so many other issues of postal operators associated in PostEurop is, therefore, a reason for us to be proud, especially now, during the pandemic, when our way of communicating is subject to more and more dynamic changes, and with them, also postal operators must change," Zdzikot said.

(PAP)