2/11/2022
Prizes awarded to the winners of “A Letter to Santa Claus” contest
Young artists – winners of “A Letter to Santa Claus” contest gathered today at a ceremony in the PTT Museum, where, in the presence of His Holiness Porfirije, Serbian Patriarch, the awards were presented by Zoran Đorđević, Acting Director of the Post of Serbia.
With special gratitude to Patriarch Porfirije for showing us an honour of having his support, Zoran Đorđević pointed out the socially responsible role of the Post of Serbia, which, among other things, is reflected in the nineteen-year-long tradition of encouraging talent development and affirming true traditional and family values in children through this literary and art contest.
“Aware of the responsibility of such continuity of our contest, we wanted to direct the tradition of nurturing the culture of letter-writing and literacy to strengthening the spiritual and cultural heritage of St. Sava, on which the true values of our society rest. That is why we decided to invite girls and boys to write letters to Santa, i.e. Father Christmas and at the same time to rejoice, play, develop their creativity and learn through the world of letters and art. The fact that we received works by more than 7,000 children from all over Serbia, confirms that the youngest, their parents, educators and teachers, have recognized the universal messages of peace, respect, tolerance and understanding, which our “A Letter to Santa Claus” contest conveys.”, said Zoran Đorđević, Acting Director of the Post of Serbia.
Patriarch Porfirije congratulated the winners, emphasizing that a letter to Father Christmas is a letter to Christ – the Child of God in which each of us has the opportunity to express their wishes and needs, and that is why every such letter is a prayer. “When our prayer is pure, when it is from the heart, when it is the source of love – God always answers. Whoever tried to pray to God in a warm and sincere way, from the depths of their soul, had the opportunity to be convinced that God exists. Prayer is at the same time an expression of our desire for every person to be well and a realization that every person should be our friend and our brother. Hence, there is no better activity or endeavour than writing letters to Father Christmas. I support you in that striving and I know that God is above all love and that God will always be in every place to meet us half-way”, said the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije.
The writer Mirjana Bulatović, the president of the Commission for the selection of the best works, praised the literary and artistic talents, as well as the immense effort of all participants in the contest. “The awards are intended for the five best works in both competitions, and at least three times as many participants deserved to be awarded”, said Bulatović, addressing the winners.
“A Letter to Santa Claus” contest was realized from December 1, 2021 to January 7 this year. The winner of the contest is Marija Eraković (12), a sixth grade student at the elementary school “Mića Stanojlović” from Koceljeva, for the long verse poem “My best Christmas”. The second place was won by Tijana and Tara Malivuk (6) from Sremski Karlovci, for an art piece. The third prize went to Pavle Markovic (7) from Belgrade, for a short prose text “A Letter to Santa Claus”. The fourth and fifth prizes were won by Ema Leški (10) from Gospođinci, and Una Gligorijević (9) from Vlasotince for their art works. The students of the elementary school “Momcilo Popović Ozren” from Paraćin with their team art work were declared the best in the group competition. Other awards also went to works of art: the second place was won by the kindergarten “Slavujak”, Preschool Institution “Boško Buha”, from Belgrade; the third place went to fourth grade students of the elementary school “Crnjanski” from Jagodina; while the fourth and fifth prizes went to the third graders of the elementary school “Boško Palkovljević Pinki” from Stara Pazova, and to the educational group from the kindergarten “Palčica” from Novi Sad.
The Commission consisted of renowned writers for children - Mirjana Bulatović, Nevena Vitošević Ćeklić and Branko Stevanović, as well as world-famous stock photographers, brothers Bojan and Ivan Zamurović.