Nghe An (VNA) – The 48th International Letter-Writing Competition for YoungPeople was launched at a ceremony held in Vinh city of the central province ofNghe An on October 12.

The contest,organised by the Universal Postal Union (UPU), tasks students to “Write aletter about your hero”.

Vietnamese students under 15 years old are eligible for the competition.Each contestant is required to submit a handwritten letter of less than 1,000words before February 15, 2019.

At the event, organisers honoured Nguyen Thi Bach Duong, a 14-year-oldVietnamese student who won third prize at the previous international competition.

Duong is an eighth grader at the Nguyen Trai Junior High School in NamSach district, Hai Duong province. Her letter won the top prize of the national UPU contest in May this year.

She received a prize worth 15 million VND (about 640 USD) from the nationalorganising board and certificates of merit from the Ministry of Education andTraining and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee.

The 47th competitionchallenged contestants to “Imagine you are a letter travelling through time,what message do you wish to convey to your readers?”

The first prize waspresented to a 13-year-old Cypriot student, while the second prize went to a10-year-old Portuguese child.

In her letter, Duongimagined up an editorial letter from the US-based The Sun newspaper in responseto an eight year old reader’s question of “Is there a Santa Claus?” in 1987.

With a natural, pure,and empathetic writing style, the letter combined messages calling for love andrespect for children along with attention to disadvantaged and unprotectedchildren. It allowed readers to think of a world free of war, violence,poverty, and injustice.

So far, Vietnamesestudents have won 14 prizes at the international competition, including twofirst prizes, one second prize, four third prizes, and seven consolationprizes.

Vietnam became amember of the UPU in 1976 and has taken part in the UPU letter-writing contestsince 1987. –VNA