Emirati girl wins for creative letter writing skills

Dubai: A young Emirati student won 5th place in the Universal Postal Union (UPU) International Letter Writing Competition for Young People 2015 for her creative expression of the world she would like to grow up in.

Aliah Ajil Mohammad Khamis Balsoub Al Ketbi, a student of Al Bat’ha School in Sharjah, was competing against 14,000 other students and her name appeared second on the list of ‘Special Mentions’ that followed the gold, silver and bronze winners.

The jury praised the creativity with which Aliah expressed herself in the letter written in Arabic and the UPU director-general, Bishar A. Hussain, sent her a letter saying he was pleased that the art of letter-writing is still alive and being practised by the world’s youth to such a high standard.

This year, the UPU received entries from 65 countries for the 44th edition of its International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People. Youngsters were invited to write a letter describing the world they want to grow up in. Globally, more than one million pupils took part in the UPU competition at the national level.

Ebrahim Bin Karam, Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates Post Group, said Emirates Post Group was happy that an Emirati girl had distinguished herself in the annual UPU Letter Writing Competition.

“We congratulate Aliah, her school and her family on this achievement. Her winning letter shows that today’s generation has not lost the art of letter-writing. In today’s electronic age, it is great to see that young people are still writing hand-written letters and sending them by post.”

A jury of worldwide experts selected the best letters from around the world, with the top three winners receiving gold, silver and bronze medals. Sara Jadid from Lebanon won the first prize for a heartfelt plea for a world without war. The nine ‘Special Mentions’, including Aliah, received a special certificate and gifts.

This year’s contest is linked to the post-2015 sustainable development goals. The winners were officially announced just before a UN special summit in September, where member states formally adopted new goals to further progress achieved with the 2000-2015 Millennium Development Goals.