12.10.2012 - Marios Chatzidimou, the gold-medal winner of the UPU 2012 International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People, was honoured at an awards ceremony during the 25th Universal Postal Congress in Doha, Qatar.
Helen
Zormpala, Greek ambassador to Qatar, Marios' mother, Marios, Marc
Furrer, head of the Swiss federal communications commission, Rhéal
LeBlanc, UPU communication manager (Photo: UPU/Nawras Alfawal)
With the London Olympics in mind, this year’s theme asked young
people up to age 15 to write a letter to an athlete or sports figure
that they admire and to describe what the Olympic Games means to them.
Competition judges unanimously chose Chatzidimou’s submission – a letter
to tennis champion Roger Federer – as the best submission.
“The jury complemented the simple and creative writing style of
Marios, saying that the composition was original, very personal and
stylistically creative,” said Rhéal LeBlanc, UPU communication programme
manager, when introducing Chatzidimou during the ceremony.
Chatzidimou, 14, hails from northern Greece where he lives with his
parents and four brothers. In his winning letter, the avid tennis player
and aspiring historian highlighted his homeland’s ancient role in
setting “the foundations of modern sports”, while praising Federer for
his skill and sportsmanship.
Chatzidimou was accompanied at the ceremony by his mother and flown
to Doha, courtesy of Qatar Airways. As a special surprise, he was
presented with a personal letter from Federer by Marc Furrer, head of
the Swiss federal communications commission.
Federer encouraged Marios to keep on writing. “With the popularity of
electronic communications today, I welcome the UPU’s initiative to
foster youngster’s letter writing skills, and I encourage the UPU to go
ahead with this competition, which gives youngsters the opportunity to
voice their opinions through letters about the state of the world and
other positive events,” Federer added.
Chatzidimou had his own surprise for the sports legend as well; his
mother presented a tennis racket featuring a portrait of Federer on the
strings that was wood burned by Chatzidimou himself. “It’s the first
tennis racket of my family,” Chatzidimou explained. “It’s my favourite
racket, I give it to my beloved athlete.” The racket will be delivered
to Federer by Furrer.
The Greek ambassador to Qatar, Helen Zormpala, concluded the ceremony
by highlighting the significant nature of Chatzidimou’s competition
victory. “This is the first time Greece has won the gold medal,”
Zormpala said. “We all have been very proud about this given that the
Olympic spirit as well as the spirit of noble competition are closely
linked to Greece.”
Valentine Chimba of Kenya won silver in this year’s competition, and
Alyona Kuchinskaya of Ukraine and Chelsea Gabriella Ellise Mangarro of
Trinidad and Tobago both won bronze. They were feted in ceremonies in
their respective countries.
Launched in 1971, the UPU International Letter-Writing Competition
for Young People’s raises awareness about the crucial role that postal
services play in societies, foster composition skills and letter-writing
enjoyment among the world’s youth. Each year the UPU chooses a theme
and the competition is then organized in member countries by their
national Posts.
To mark the United Nations’ International Decade for Action “Water
for Life” 2005-2015, the 2013 competition will ask young people to write
a letter explaining why water is a precious resource.
Source : http://news.upu.int
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