Santa Claus-themed letter wins national UPU contest
A letter about Santa Claus written by an eighth grader in Hai Duong province has won the first prize of the 47th International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People in Vietnam.
Nguyen Thi Bach Duong (centre), an eighth grader at the Nguyen Trai Junior High School in Hai Duong province, is presented with the first prize of the contest (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – A letter about Santa Claus written byan eighth grader in Hai Duong province has won the first prize of the 47thInternational Letter-Writing Competition for Young People in Vietnam.
Nguyen Thi Bach Duong, an eighth grader at theNguyen Trai Junior High School in Nam Sach district, Hai Duong province, wonthe top prize of the contest, which was launched globally by the UniversalPostal Union (UPU).
The Corporation of Vietnam Post Office (VietnamPost) and the Thieu nien Tien phong newspaper held a ceremony in Hanoi on May11 to present prizes to the winners.
This year’s contest is themed "Imagine youare a letter travelling through time. What message do you wish to convey toyour readers?"
In her letter, Duong imagined herself to be areal letter which was written by an editor of The Sun newspaper of the US in1987 to reply to the question “Is there a Santa Claus?” asked by aneight-year-old reader.
With a natural, pure and humane writing style,the letter combined messages calling for love and respect for children alongwith attention to disadvantaged and unprotected children. It makes readersthink about a world free of wars, violence, poverty and injustice.
This letter has been translated into French andEnglish to be sent to the UPU, based in Switzerland, to take part in theinternational competition.
The contest in Vietnam from October 2017 toMarch 2018 attracted more than 1 million entries from nationwide. The judgesawarded one first prize, three second prizes, five third prizes and 30consolation prizes to the best entries.
Sixty-one sub-prizes were also presented toencourage promising letter writers and four others were granted to the youngestparticipant and those with disabilities.
Vietnam became a member of the UPU in 1976 andhas taken part in the UPU letter writing contest since 1987. Vietnamesestudents won prizes at the international competition for 13 times, includingtwo first prizes, one second prize, three third prizes, and seven consolationprizes.-VNA
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Nguyen Thi Bach Duong (centre), an eighth grader at the Nguyen Trai Junior High School in Hai Duong province, is presented with the first prize of the contest (Photo: VNA) 
