The United Nations General Assembly declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and development of all types of forests. The United Nations was founded immediately after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights.

Following this UN initiative to promote awareness of the importance of forests through the declaration of an International Year, PostEurop has chosen the same subject for the 2011 EUROPA Stamp.

To represent this theme, MaltaPost is issuing a set of two stamps each individually designed by young artists; Nicole Sciberras aged 14, student of Malta School of Art, Valletta and Brenda Camenzuli aged 14, student of St Ignatius College, Blata l-Bajda. The stamps depict the artists’ personal interpretation of “Forests” in the context of the Maltese Islands.

These designs are the result of a Stamp Design Competition organised by MaltaPost in November 2010 for students between Form 1 to Form 5 attending any secondary school in Malta or Gozo.

 The €0.37 stamp will participate in the Best EUROPA Stamp Contest amongst all official EUROPA stamps.

 This contest is an annual online event where creative entries from across Europe compete for the best design. The best EUROPA stamp will be voted by web viewers and PostEurop members and the winning stamp will be announced at the PostEurop Plenary Assembly to be held between 12 and 13 October 2011 in Turkey.

 An amount of 70,000 stamps will carry a face value of €0.37, while another amount of 70,000 stamps will carry a face value of €1.19. The stamps measure 44.0mm x 31.0mm with a perforation of 13.9 x 14.0(comb). All stamps have been offset printed on Maltese Crosses watermarked paper by Printex Limited and are available in sheets of 10.

published May 13th, 2011