The organizer of the 45th Universal Postal Union (UPU) International Letter Writing Competition for Young People 2016 with the theme "Write a letter for yourself when you are at 45” held a prize-giving ceremony at Junior High School Lien Bao in the northern province of Vinh Phuc’s Vinh Yen Town on May 20.
The competition UPU 2016 was launched across the country in October , 2015 and by February, 2016 the organizer received 956,382 entries. The jury board selected 100 entries for the final round. One first prize, three second prizes, five third prizes, 30 encouragement prizes, 61 promising pen prizes and three extra prizes for youngest candidates, ethnic minority candidate and disabled candidate.
Embodying boy Aylan Kurdi who drowned last year when he and his parents were trying to reach the Greek island of Kos in Turkey, ninth grader Nguyen Thi Thu Trang from Nguyen Trai Junior High School in the northern province of Hai Duong’s Nam Sach District won the first prize.
In the letter, Trang wrote “I was struggling with sea waves for fragile life hopelessly, yet how a three-year-old kid can do in vast sea in a dark night? The sea has hugged me in its heart. How kind the sea. It washed me up to the beach”.
In the letter, Trang showed her deep knowledge of immigrant issue and discrimination. The winning letter was translated into French and English will be translated into French before being sent to the Swiss-based UPU for the international round.
The event was jointly held by the Ministries of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Education and Training in conjunction with the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation and the Thieu nien Tien Phong (Youth Pioneers) newspaper.
