Postcrossing Blog

Every year around this time, we write about the EUROPA stamps and the competition to pick the most beautiful one for that year. This year though, the traditional competition isn’t taking place because all stamps share a common design! This is not new, and has happened multiple times in the history of EUROPA stamps, including in the very first issue back in 1956.

Below is 2023's design as seen on the Finnish stamp. The theme of the year is “Peace — the highest value of humanity”:

Every country is using the same design this year, arranged in slightly different ways to match the shape or aesthetics of other stamps in the country. In order to arrive at this design, a contest was run by PostEurop in which the different postal services submitted their interpretations on the topic, and then one was chosen to represent it. The winning entry was created by Linda Bos and Runa Egilsdottir of “A Designer’s Collective”, for POST Luxembourg. About the design, they wrote:

“The world needs a new Peace symbol, uniting all nations. Cultural differences perchance a barrier for a state of Peace. If only mankind could respect each other’s differences by understanding their significance and responding to them with consideration, the world would be a better place. This design shows a visual metaphor for a peacefully integrated, cooperative society in which people embrace each other’s culture. It was inspired by the Celtic Love Knot symbol, with interlocking hearts. The colour palette illustrates all the nations in the world. By adding hands with intertwined fingers, it conveys the message of mutual respect.”

Many other postal services also decided to design a second stamp to pair with this one, and you can see some of those on this forum topic.

While on one hand we’re a little sad that we don’t get to see the usual diversity of designs and interpretations, on the other hand, it’s also heartwarming to see a joint issue. This is how EUROPA stamps started: with a shared design as a symbol of cooperation between European countries. The topic also hails back to the beginning of these stamps, as the designs for the second and third years of the EUROPA series featured peace symbols.

So… what do you think? Do you like the design that was chosen, or would you have preferred if every country had its own unique entry? Aaaaaand, on a different but somewhat related topic, which song do you think will win Eurovision tonight this weekend? 🤔

Voting is now open on the competition that chooses the most beautiful EUROPA stamp of the year!

The theme this year is “Stories & Myths”, which is just a brilliant topic. Every country has its own mythical creatures, legends or sagas connected to their own history which are part of that country’s DNA. Sometimes they are based on historical events or geographical oddities, and sometimes they are just fantastical adventures that evolve with each retelling, often infused with magical tones to explain the inexplicable.

I love this theme and the stamps coming out of it — give me all the dragons and witchcraft, haunted castles and tales of shipwrecks, nymphs and brave heroes that save the people! There are some gorgeous designs in this year’s selection, inviting us to discover each country’s folklore and oral traditions. You can see the full gallery on this page.

What do you think of the stories and myths that were chosen to be featured on this year’s stamps? Which one will get your vote? And if you’re not from Europe, which legends from your own country do you think would be worthy to be featured on a stamp? Let’s share our country’s best stories in the comments below!

Voting has just started to choose the most beautiful EUROPA stamp of the year!

This year, the stamps focus on endangered national wildlife from each country, which is a really important topic to bring awareness to. Deforestation and other human activities threaten animals, fungus and plants, and according to the IUCN Red List, over 20% of species in Europe at the moment are at risk of extinction. That’s a staggering and saddening percentage. 😔 So in 2021, each country picked an endangered species to highlight, and depicted it in its own style. Here’s a small sample:

There’s fauna of all sizes and shapes, illustrated mostly in traditional philatelic style. This makes it hard to pick the best one, as we suspect people will inevitably vote for the cutest animals, instead of other, less photogenic ones…

What do postcrossers think? Which stamp gets your vote for best EUROPA stamp of 2021 in this year’s competition? And what do you think of your own country’s entry? We’re always super curious to hear your philatelic opinions, so go cast your vote and let us know which one you picked on the comments below!

Have you ever helped out with a stamp appeal? We’ve highlighted a few of these initiatives before, because it’s something a lot of postcrossers are able to do — if you’ve been storing up used stamps waiting for something like this, then now’s your opportunity!

This time, new member StampLady let us know about the Bone Cancer Research Trust Stamp Appeal. The Bone Cancer Research Trust are a British charity dedicated to helping tackle primary bone cancers via research, providing information, raising awareness and offering support to those affected.

How can used stamps help, though? Well, once they reach BCRT, they sort them into categories and then sell them in bulk by weight. They get sold to collectors and dealers, and some special stamps also get sold by auction. In this way, the stamps are used to raise money by reusing all those old stamps which for many people no longer have a purpose. They’re able to use all kinds of stamps, no matter where they come from, whether they’re British stamps or from other countries, and no matter what the actual face value of the stamp is.

You can contribute any stamps you have by collecting up your stamps (they suggest cutting them out and leaving a 1cm border around them) and then once you have a bundle, you can send them to:

BCRT Stamp Appeal
20 Bowers Road
Benfleet
Essex
SS7 5PZ
UNITED KINGDOM

If you’d like to read more about the appeal, check out their info page! You can also read more about the work of the Bone Cancer Research Trust on their website.

It’s been 15 years today since Paulo flipped the switch to turn Postcrossing on — 15 years! 🎉 Can you believe that?! We’re a little incredulous ourselves… but immensely happy and grateful for the opportunity to come on this journey that has delivered millions of postcards around the world. Who could have imagined such an unlikely adventure?!

Awhile back, we asked you guys to upload a selfie with your mailbox to our anniversary wall, and almost 1000 of you accepted the challenge and showed us your happy mailboxes. It’s such a joy to browse the gallery now, and see your smiles and the places where all the postcards land! Mailboxes and mail slots seem to come in all shapes, sizes and materials, and quite a few of you even receive your mail directly from your mail carrier’s hands at your doorstep or on your local post office. So much color and diversity of mailboxes and ways of receiving mail!

We wanted to do a little surprise with these nice photos, so we put together a video filled with smiles to share with you all:

Sorry that we couldn’t put all of the photos in without making the video too long — we tried to include as many as we could. You can see all the photos on the 15 Years of Happy Mailboxes page, and the submissions will be open until the end of the month.

A big thank you to every single one of you out there, sending postcards to strangers across the world and helping make this planet a happier place — you are the stars of this celebration! 🤩 Join us in a little celebratory dance and enjoy this special day!

Before I get all weepy, let me just share some more good news: we have been working with Brazil Post on a new Postcrossing-themed stamp that is being released today! It’s a beautiful stamp by São Paulo’s illustrator Daniel Lourenço, showing 2 people connected through postcards. It’s a big, beautiful stamp (click the image to see a bigger version), and we have no doubt Brazilian postcards will look extra nice with it.

We’re so proud of the Postcrossing community in Brazil, whose persistence and dedication to their hobby resulted in this gorgeous stamp coming to life. Sadly, they cannot yet get together to celebrate the stamp launch right now… but there will be an online launch event (on Instagram and Youtube), and we’re certain postcrossers will make up for lost time when it is safe to meet in person again. Enjoy your new stamp, and we look forward to seeing it on many future postcards from Brazil 🇧🇷!

PS – Postcrossers in China 🇨🇳, if you can’t see the video above, try here.