Postcrossing Blog

If picking the most creative postcard images on the 150 Years of Postcards contest was a tough job, choosing three best messages was even harder. All these heartfelt words tugged at our heartstrings and it seemed impossible to put a postcard down, or somehow judge some as “better” than the others… how to choose?!

In the end, the three postcard messages we’ve picked are all different, but special in their own way. So here they are, in no particular order.

Annie from Wisconsin USA, sent a postcard with a very simple message, which neatly sums up our feelings about postcards:

“A postcard is a hug sent through the mail.”

We liked this quote so much that we ended up printing it in a big font and featuring it front and center at the UPU exhibition in Switzerland. The other side of the postcard is a quilted masterpiece, featuring both fabric and stamps (see it here).

Juice sent in a postcard featuring her own handmade design of a tree in Autumn (see it here). She wrote:

“As someone with loosely-settled roots in many places, sending postcards gives me a chance to spend precious moments with friends, family and acquaintances across the world. I cherish the opportunity each card gives me to pass a little time with another person, across geographic and temporal boundaries, and I find the transformations each card undergoes in the mail, along with the new light each card is illuminated by in the hands and eyes of its recipient, almost inexplicably magical. In today’s world, it is perhaps more important than ever to attend to how and what we communicate. Postcards provide refreshing ways to share feelings, ideas, and time not only with words but also with images, physical objects, and embedded love.”

Well said! We also often think of postcards as time that we spend with someone far away, and imagine our words being held in that person’s hands, bearing the marks of a long journey across the world.

And last but not least, Claus from Germany sent a postcard showing an illustration of a mail carrier in Hamburg (see it here), with beautiful stamps. On it, he wrote a short but delightful poem about postcards:

"Postcard!

A picture
A thought or two
A stamp
A touch of paper
The beauty of it all.

Out in the open
Close to the heart.

Memories in the making
Memories to keep.

Please, Mr. Postman, come again soon!"

Congratulations to the three winners, who will each receive a box of 100 postcards as their prize!

Next week, we’ll bring you some more highlights from the nice postcards that have landed in our mailbox for the 150 years of postcards celebrations.

By the way, would you like to try guessing how many postcards were received? 😊 Leave a comment below with your estimate (a number between 500 and 2000), and next week we’ll reveal the grand total and send a little something to whoever gets the closest guess first, without going over it. Good luck!