Vietnamese painter wins first prize at IRC designing contest

Vietnamese painter Nguyen Du has won the first prize at the Universal Postal Union (UPU)'s competition to design a new International Reply Coupon (IRC).

The news was announced at the 26th Universal Postal Congress in Istanbul, Turkey, for the period of 2017-2020.

Painter Nguyen Du’s IRC sample

Painter Nguyen Du’s IRC sample will be used from 2017 to 2020. The IRC sample depicts the image of a dove and the open hands of a person against the background of image of the North Pole, representing the sustainable development of the postal sector in society. The image of the yellow stamp stands out against the blue IRC sample, depicting the bright future of postal sector.

When one writes to a stranger and requests a reply, it is considered polite to enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. This works well when both persons live in the same country; however, if they are from different countries, the enclosed postage stamp will not be valid.

This technical problem was solved in 1906 when the Universal Postal Union, during its Congress in Rome, introduced the International Reply Coupon service. As the service began before the days of airmail, the earliest coupons could only be redeemed for a single-rate ordinary postage stamp to a foreign country. In terms of today's UPU Convention, international reply coupons are exchangeable in all member countries for the minimum postage of a priority item or an unregistered airmail letter sent to a foreign country.

Earlier, Nguyen Thi Thu Trang also won first prize in the 2016 International Letter Writing Competition for Young People held by the UPU.

(Source: NDO)