Design chosen for Europa 'Think Green' stamp

Cyprus Post won PostEurop's contest to design a stamp on the subject of "Think Green" for Europa stamps. Doxia Sergidou of Cyprus Post created this winning design.

Sergidou's design will appear on all Europa stamps to be issued in 2016. In most years, individual European postal administrations that belong to PostEurop, create their own designs around a central theme. For example, the 2015 is toys, and each postal administration selects what toys will appear on its stamps.

However, in honor of the 60th anniversary of Europa stamps, PostEurop decided to have a common design for all of the postal administrations' stamps and organized a contest to select the design.

PostEurop reports that 24 designs were submitted. Of these, the design from Cyprus Post placed first, the design from the Slovenian postal administration (Posta Slovenije) came in second, and Hungary's Magya Post was third.

Sergidou describes her design: "The main purpose was to show that it is in our hand to create a greener planet.  Thus, I have placed a hand on the top side of the stamp which basically represents anyone of us, actively replacing the grey colour (the environmental pollution) with the green colour which symbolizes environmental living and hope, and in turn inspire us for a better world.

“The left side of the stamp represents the polluted side and is painted grey showing us the tremendous disaster caused by the industries, automotive vehicles, power generation and inefficient waste.  It also shows how the human activities are negatively influencing the environment. In contrast on the right side of the stamp, is the green side which show us how using renewable energy resources, acting in a more environmental way and becoming more environmentally aware could positively affect the environment. This will not only have a positive effect in our generation, but it will also help the future ones to co-exist in harmony.” 

Anita Haggblom of Aland Post, the chair of the PostEurop stamps and philately working group, explained the 2016 theme: "The impact of our activities on the Environment is an area of high priority for European postal operators and the multitude of initiatives across Europe inspired the theme linked to Europe's ecology — Think Green ... " 

The theme for 2017 will be castles, and the theme for 2018 will be bridges. Each postal administration will return to creating their own designs for these Europa stamps.