Peace - the highest value of humanity
2023 EUROPA Stamps theme “PEACE – the highest value of humanity” will be based on a common design motif to be issued by all postal companies in 2023.
Out of the 29 entries submitted for the design competition, 44 postal companies participating in the voting have selected the design motif of POST Luxembourg, depicting “The New Peace Symbol”.
Story of the design
The world needs a new Peace symbol, uniting all nations. Cultural differences perchance represent a barrier for a state of Peace. If only mankind could respect each other’s differences by understanding their significance and responding to them with consideration, the world would be a better place.
This design shows a visual metaphor for a peacefully integrated, cooperative society in which people embrace each other’s culture. It was inspired by the Celtic Love Knot symbol, with interlocking hearts. The colour palette illustrates all the nations in the world. By adding hands with intertwined fingers, it conveys the message of mutual respect.
The designers Linda Bos and Runa Egilsdottir from A DESIGNERS’ COLLECTIVE respond: “We are extremely honoured that our design has been selected to represent the visual of Peace in over 50 countries. We hope this symbol will be sent all over the globe and make people reflect on what is the highest value of humanity: Peace.”
More about EUROPA Stamps
Since 1956, EUROPA stamps have been a symbol of Europe’s desire for closer integration and cooperation. These special stamps are issued by the European postal administrations/enterprises and bear the EUROPA logo, a PostEurop registered trademark. Since 1993, PostEurop has been the responsible organisation for issuing EUROPA stamps and each year, philately experts within the Stamps and Philately working group organise the competition amongst other philately initiatives.
