Canadian stamp stories

Last year, Canada Post sponsored an art competition for kids 15 and under in search of a meaningful image for the annual stamp of the Canada Post Community Foundation. Rising to the challenge of depicting an important issue facing young people, eight-year-old Ezra Peters of Whitelaw, Alberta, edged out four other finalists in an online vote.

His winning entry, Floating Adrift, is a plasticine-on-board sculpture of a white-sailed ship on a deep blue ocean, with a smiling green fish leaping from the water. Inspired by his love of ships, Ezra’s creation is a metaphor for how kids can stay on course if they have the proper support and guidance.

Designed by Ottawa’s Parable Communications, the stamp’s plasticine-like texture and childlike imagery are echoed in the booklet concept, which features a colourful rainbow of plasticine tubes.

The Canada Post Community Foundation provides funding to programs that seek to create lasting change for children and youth. The 10-cent surcharge customers pay for this semi-postal fundraising stamp goes directly to the work of the Foundation.

The other finalists – Alexandria Swartz (Toronto, Ontario), Daman Laking (Smithville, Ontario), and sisters Sally and Lucie Wilkie (Port Williams, Nova Scotia) – will also have an opportunity to see their work appear on a Canada Post product. Their respective entries, Spending Time With Loved Ones, Choices, World Peace, and Shadow of Peace, will grace the stamp issue’s Official First Day Cover.