Postcrossing Blog

Two stamps announced on the same week… it must be our luckiest week ever! 🎉

The wave of good news continues, and we are pleased to announce the issuing of Germany’s very own Postcrossing-themed stamp, on October 6th! Many German postcrossers already knew this was coming, as the stamp is one of the most eagerly awaited by the community. After working with the German Finance Ministry for several months in its making, today we are happy to finally be able to reveal its image. Here it is:

We absolutely love it! Designer Greta Gröttrup did a great job of conveying the essence of Postcrossing in a colorful way, that accurately reflects the joy of the project. Once again, the diversity and the different facets of the project are presented, from writing to mailing to receiving.

This stamp will be out on October 6, and a big launch party/meetup is planned for October 7th kindly hosted by Berlin’s Museum of Communications. Paulo and I will be there, and there’s plenty of room at the museum… so everyone is welcome to join us in the celebration of this milestone for the German community! There are special cancellation marks planned for the event, and Deutsche Post will have a little booth on site, to sell stamps and put the first day cancellation marks on them. It’ll be a fun afternoon!

This Postcrossing stamp was brought about through the efforts of the Postcrossing community, but in particular through the relentless dedication of Ralf (aka Linus58), who wholeheartedly adopted this cause. Back in 2015, Ralf started a campaign on the old forum for a German Postcrossing stamp, in which he invited and encouraged everyone to write a postcard to the Finance Ministry (who is the entity responsible for issuing stamps in Germany) asking for the stamp. Every year since, he renewed the campaign with the same enthusiasm and as a result, the Ministry received thousands of postcards from all over the world in the last decade, asking for a Postcrossing stamp to be created… until last year, when they finally relented and said yes. This stamp is truly a work of love from a dedicated postcrosser, and the many others who supported him and believed in this idea.

Sadly, Ralf is no longer with us, having passed away late last year. We lost a friend and passionate postcrosser, and it makes us sad to know that he did not get to see the stamp that he campaigned for… but his legacy will live on, on all the postcards we will mail with this lovely stamp.

Given how many postcards are sent from Germany every day, we expect everyone in Postcrossing will sooner or later hold a postcard with this stamp in their hands. We look forward to it arriving in thousands of mailboxes everywhere, and we hope you are as excited as we are to see it out and about!

(*) Any reproductions of the stamp (on online or offline media) must be authorized first, and requests can be sent to LB5@bmf.bund.de.

Exciting news! Post Luxembourg has been working with Postcrossing to launch a special stamp honoring the project, and today we can finally reveal what it will look like! So, without further ado… Isn’t that brilliant? Different hands, playfully writing and holding postcards — a perfect visual representation of what Postcrossing is!

The stamp is designed by S. Fisch and will have a print run of 100,000 stamps at Luxembourg’s rate for Europe (so don’t forget to add the extra postage to your postcards, if you use this stamp to mail postcards outside of Europe).

There will also be an accompanying first day cancellation mark and envelope, which can be combined with the stamp and cancellation mark to make a neat First Day Cover. Here’s what they will look like:

The new Postcrossing-themed Luxembourg stamp will be out on September 13, and you will be able to order it at the Post Luxembourg webshop.

A meetup is being organized on Saturday, September 17 to celebrate this stamp, and they’ll even have their own special cancellation mark for the meeting, available at a booth on Aldringen’s post office between 1pm and 5pm — how cool is that?!

We’re really looking forward to seeing this stamp make its way across the world on many postcards — let us know what you think of it in the comments below!

Aaaaaand we have a winner! 🎉

Over the past couple of months, 174 designs were submitted to the World Postcard Day design contest and so the job of choosing just one was once more a tough challenge. They were so many great entries!

This year, the team of judges was composed of us at Postcrossing, Frank Roche from The Postcardist Podcast, Graham Beck from Exploring Stamps, Perrine Bisson from the Musée de La Poste and Will Hansen, curator of Americana at the Newberry Library (who are the custodians of the Curt Teich Postcard Archives). This stellar team took the time to enjoy and ponder all the designs, and after much admiring and careful consideration, a winner has emerged.

So, without further ado, let me introduce to you the postcard that will represent the 2022 edition of the World Postcard Day! It was created by French animation student and postcrosser Pauline Chrétien (aka paulinectart):

Here is what she wrote about this lovely design:

Postcards can deliver a little bit of hope and kindness to people who need it, and to show our support to every victim of conflict on earth.
That is why I chose to represent world peace through postcards, delivered by doves, this bird that symbolizes peace around the world.

Congratulations Pauline! We love the style and the message it conveys — of peace being delivered to all these different mailboxes!

If you’d like to print this postcard on your local printing shop or through an online service (like Vistaprint or Moo), the files are available for download on the World Postcard Day page. If you use it or receive it, we encourage you to share it online with the hashtag #WorldPostcardDay on your favorite social media platform! We’d love to see how far and wide this lovely postcard travels, and especially look forward to seeing pictures of it next to different mailboxes around the world! 📮

Now is the time to make plans for October 1st, to celebrate this special day! There are some events already on the calendar and more will be announced in the coming weeks, but you can choose how you participate and make something unique. It can be as simple and as nice as sending postcards to family, friends, co-workers, inspiring teachers or neighbors! But you can also choose to use postcards in a classroom if you’re an educator, help your young family members send their first postcards, or help your local library or museum do something special to mark the day… Check out this page for some tips! And don’t forget to share your plans with us in the comments below or on this forum topic, so we can spread the word and inspire each other.

And naturally, the World Postcard Day badge will be awarded once more to those who send at least one postcard in Postcrossing on October 1st. Make sure to save some slots until then, so you can request a few postcards on the day and earn the special badge once more!

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

This month, thanks to Kompis-Ninna's suggestion, we’re asking you all about your favourite day of the year. Do you have a yearly tradition, something you look forward to and always remember fondly?

This is a bit out of season, but my favourite day of the year is probably Christmas Day! I always spend October to December trying to think of all the absolute best presents for my immediate family, and I love to spoil them, and Christmas Day is pretty much the culmination of that. Plus, even now I’m an adult, it’s a day to be with my parents and sister in the house I grew up in, and shut out most of the world. I think it’s the only day of the year that’s the same every time.

I do try to make my birthday special as well, of course, and it’s coming up this month, in fact! I usually try to do something nice for my birthday… One year when I lived in Belgium, we ate cake for every meal, starting with my wife making me Welsh cakes (which I ate hot right out of the pan)! But my birthday’s never really the same two years in a row, and sometimes we don’t do anything special and just take the time to relax. So Christmas Day is still my favourite!

What about you? Do you have any family traditions or national holidays that always light up the year, for example? Let us know about your favourite day of the year in the comments—and don’t forget you can use it as a prompt for what to write on your postcards this month!

Morten (aka bokmorten) comes from Norway and has been using Postcrossing since 2014. We learned about his work as a librarian and children’s books expert, and got curious about how he found us and how his Postcrossing journey has been going.

How did you get started sending postcards? What is your earliest memory of them?

When I was 8, my father introduced me to stamp collecting. That was a link to sending and receiving post as well. Later, in my teens, I had pen pals home and abroad. I have always been curious about other people, their lives and customs.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I read about Postcrossing in the newsletter of Foroya Post (Faroese Post). Tried it right away, and I’m still here.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

As you might see, we live in a small village/suburb with rural surroundings.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

I am not a collector per se, so there are only a few cards I’ve kept, using them as decorations or book marks. Among those, I’ve been enjoying some “Gesamtkunstwerk” where stamp and card share the same theme. Like the Gaston from France:

Or this Austrian card and stamp with Ukraine flag theme and some of the Moomin cards from Finland with related stamps.

I must also mention the very nice Hungarian postcrosser who sent me a Hungarian translated version of a famous Norwegian children’s book. She’s still a Facebook friend.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies or collections?

I’m a frequent contributor to Norwegian Wikipedia, awarded “Wikipedian Of The Year 2013” in Norway. I also write and edit other non fiction writing in local history, children’s literature history and in the Norwegian academic encyclopedia Store Norske Leksikon.

Is there anything else that you are passionate about?

Through my work, I am the proud and eager editor and publisher of children’s books in the threatened minority language Southern Saami, and into other Saami languages as well. This work has awarded us two national awards, among them 'Library of the Year 2019', and two times nominations to the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world’s largest children’s literature prize. Read more about our work in English, or Scandinavian (for Scandinavian readers and those putting their trust in web translations).

Thank you for answering our questions, Morten!