The prize winners

Category	Prize	Winner
student	1st: US$100	Alena Reisinger, Austria
school of winning student	1st: US$250	Hauptschule, Austria
15-20 Years	1st: US$100	Samantha Zahrn, USA
	2nd: US$ 50	Elinor Sadowska, England
	3rd: US$ 25	Elizabeth McIntosh, Australia
21-60 Years	1st: US$100	Sandra Waterman, USA
	2nd: US$ 50	Anne-Ruth Alton, Wales
	3rd: US$ 25	Nadelle Smith, Australia
61 Years and Over:	1st: US$100	Vicky Jones, England
	2nd: US$ 50	John Burr, England

 

The 1st prize winners and their letters are shown below:

 

A1st Prize - Student Category:
Alena Reisinger, Austria

Dear Friend

“The Postman is here”! I run quickly down the stairs, to the letterbox. It’s every time the same. When I am expecting a letter from one of my pen friends, I am really excited and curious about what my friends have written. Hastily, I open the letterbox and take out the post. There is a lot of senseless advertising and many bills, which I’m not really interested in. But in the end I find a light-blue envelope, it’s a letter from my pen friend, which I have been expecting for four days. Clumsily, I open the letter and go back into my room. There I sit down on the bed and start reading all the news and nice words from my pen friend, whom I’ve never met.

Sometimes it seems like letters are invisible threads, which are the most important part of a growing friendship.

In the age of computers, emails and mobile phones, less people write letters to good friends. Letters are more expensive and not so uncomplicated and the delivery also takes longer than an email. But old, traditional letters also have advantages. For instance, they are more personal and I like the feeling of waiting for a letter, waiting for the postman and hoping that somebody has dropped me a line.

I have to smile. Many friendly words and new stories make me feel happy. It feels like I have shared part of my friend’s life. And we have never seen each other. Sure, it’s great to meet somebody when you know every detail of his life, but it’s different with someone you have never met before.

Sometimes it’s difficult to tell people something unless you can write it in a letter. To write some lines is often easier than telling something.

I read the two pages of the letter I received. Now it’s my turn to reply. At first I look for nice paper and a pen. After that, I start writing the reply to the letter. I always try to answer letters and emails quickly, because I know that probably anywhere out there, one of my friends is running to his letterbox, searching for a letter with my address on it.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved writing letters. The first reason is that by writing a few lines, I can say things I maybe cannot express any other way. If I receive a letter I also know that somebody tried hard and took the time to write to me. And the last, and for me the most important reason, is that I know that I make somebody happy when I write to them. Of course I am also happy when somebody writes to me.

There are many reasons why it is worth waiting for a letter and I know that everybody has his/her own reasons.

After half an hour, I finished my letter, put my signature on the last line and put the letter into an envelope. Now I just have to find a stamp and I can take the letter to the post office tomorrow.

I hope that next week somebody will look out of the window and look for a yellow car that brings a white envelope from me that they are expecting so urgently.

From
Alena

M1st Prize - 15-20 Year Category:
Samantha Zahrn, USA

Dear Grandma

I know it’s been a long time since we’ve written to each other. How have you been lately? How’s your summer so far?

I wanted to write to you today because, well, I miss it. Sure, using email is faster, but there are some things that can’t be said through an email. When you use the Internet and type down your words, you can’t really express your true emotions unless you’re a really good writer and can type things well. You can also send pictures and things through an email, and then print it out, but I think it’s much faster and nicer to actually receive a picture that you can look at and frame right away.

Do you remember when I was younger? I had learned about writing to people through the mail, and I was fascinated by how the post office worked. I would often send little letters to myself through the post just see them come back. Eventually, the two of us began writing to each other. You would always use really nice stationery, or use a card with nature on it. I knew how much you loved the animals, and I was always really happy to get a nice card. The card with the cardinal on the front was one of the first ones you sent me, and I think it’s my favorite one.

We also learned a lot about each other through those letters, too. I’m pretty shy and introverted, and I found it hard to talk to people. But with writing, the words just came out so easily. Maybe it’s because I actually get the chance to read what I’m saying, and I can go back and correct any mistakes. You probably love writing because it’s what you’re the most used to. After all, computers and email are new and can be pretty complicated. We would often talk about several topics, such as life around us, or what it was like to live in the past. I could never imagine living during the Second World War, but the way that you wrote about it, it’s almost like I was there. I guess that’s the magic of writing pencil to paper; someone puts a lot of themselves into it, and the other person can almost picture it perfectly. It’s just not the same with email.

After a while, though, we just stopped writing to each other. I never really understood why. Maybe it was because we had phones and we saw each other in person a lot and we didn’t really need to write letters. Plus, you’ve gotten a computer recently. I don’t know if you’ve emailed anything to mom yet. You probably have, and as time goes on, I hope you’ll be able to use that computer to its full limits. If you can’t, my dad or myself will be there to help.

But no matter how good you get at using your new computer, I hope that you remember to write with a pen to me again, and we can write letters just like we used to. I really miss those days, and I know that you probably miss them too. In my opinion, while the Internet is fun and email is faster, I believe that there’s nothing more powerful or believable than a written letter and waiting for a long time to get it. I think it’s like waiting for your birthday and someone gives you a really nice gift that makes you so happy and makes your day. Letter writing gives you the same feeling.

I can’t wait to hear from you again. Please write back soon!

Love
Samantha

1st Prize - 21-60 Year Category:
Sandra Waterman

Dear Pen Pal

The computer is off! It’s late in the evening, and I have no desire to chat on the phone. The day is past and this is ‘our special time’.

I have selected some beautiful paper on which to write, and my favorite pen is in my hand, moving across the page as my thoughts come from my mind into my fingers. And my fingers form the letters I need to fashion the words I’m choosing to tell you how my day went, how my life is taking shape, and what I will do tomorrow.

It’s a slow process – a waste of time some say. After all, isn’t my goal in life to go faster, to multi-task, to communicate with you in the blink of an eye? The clock on the wall is demanding that I look at its face, that I increase my anxiety, knowing that time is passing. And yet, instead of minding the clock’s arrogance, I’m noticing the sweet clove aroma of the hot tea I’ve been letting steep, in the china teacup I’m not supposed to use unless it’s a special occasion.

I remember when you wrote to me once, years ago, telling me that you could tell how I was by my handwriting – and not the actual words I would write. I have been so grateful, ever since, for that gift of perspective: you didn’t merely wish to receive a letter in the mail; you wanted to know how I was. You and I are thousands of miles apart, and in the ten years we have been writing to each other, we have never once met, or even spoken on the telephone. Our only link is through our handwriting, on many, many letters, read and re-read many times … and what a vibrant, happy link it is. Even when sad times challenge us (my divorce, and your husband’s depression and subsequent job loss), the letters kept reminding us that someone was thinking of us – that we were whole.

Why are your letters worth waiting for? Because that pace reflects the natural rhythm of life … the sun takes 24 hours to rise again. The seasons come and go, all in their own time. And precious friendships are not formed in ten minutes time, but through years and years of shared stories, jokes and reminiscences.

Has it really been ten years since I opened that first letter from you? I shake my head in wonder.

Oh, now I’m yawning a bit. I’ll close now, and watch the moon move slowly over the trees. Tomorrow will be busy, I know. It’s a busy life, but a good one.

Write when you can. I’ll wait.

As ever,
Sandy

1st Prize - 61 Years and Over Category:
Vicky Jones, England

Dear Sophie (a letter to my daughter)

In this era of instantaneous communication, I’m writing to tell you why it’s worth waiting for a letter.

Hopefully, it will convince you that although email has many uses, a letter by post is a thing to treasure.

Today, the sky is turbulent and the temperature low. Spring is late this year. The idea of sitting in front of the fire was very appealing but I needed to utilise my time. I decided to tidy the drawers in the dresser. Well that was my intention until I came across a bundle of old letters, sent to me from your travels around the world.

For two hours I relived the laughter and pain, the highs and lows of your adventures. When I finished reading, I realised how much I miss the written word.

From a remote orphanage in Romania, when the world had just learned of the Caucescau legacy, you sat amongst the squalor and wrote a vivid account of the horrors that had taken place.

I could almost smell the stench of the filthy beds the abandoned children were lying in, your anger and frustration spilling onto the scrappy bit of paper on which your letter was written.

In faint, scrawly writing you described the wonder on a child’s face as the wind brushed against his cheek for the first time on his wretched little life.

Your letters from the mountains in Nepal were written on handmade paper with a drawing of the King on the top, left hand corner. You wrote, ‘Leaving Katmandu behind, I travelled through the green mountains and deep river gorges. I looked up – something sparkled – something so indescribably vast – a shape looming higher than the stars – higher than the moon – am I in heaven?’

It was your first glimpse of the Himalayas.

Asia was always special to you. Never choosing the popular tourist resorts, you ventured into the villages and learnt the customs and traditions or practiced your yoga and sampled the hospitality of its people.

Your letters sang with happiness, whether untangling the strings of a child’s kite; gazing at the bright, green seaweed farms in Lambagen; or stood under coconut palms with the smell of burning, human flesh, as you attended a Hindu funeral you had been ‘privileged’ to be invited to. Your words painted a strong picture.

Then came email.

Yes – I was relieved to receive an email when you were traveling through Sumatra during the trouble that erupted. To wait for a letter would have been agony as the riots were shown on the television news. And I realise times have changed and the long, unsociable hours you work in the theatre would never enable you to keep in touch with your many friends and contacts were it not for email.

I cannot fault the way you regularly ring me from the other side of the world, telling me where and what you are doing and yet … something is missing.

You see, a letter is not just about its contents, the information you are sending. It is a package. The paper, style of writing, ink type, even the smudges and spelling mistakes (of which there were many!), conjure an image of the person.

So when your contract finishes in the autumn, and you set off on the cycle ride through Tibet, raising money for MÈdicins Sans FrontiËres, I do hope there will be letters to add to my bundle, written on whatever is at hand and containing your innermost thoughts which you had to commit to paper.

An email is like a motorway, great for getting from A to B, a letter is taking the scenic route. I’m sure you must understand this.

All my love,
Mum xx