9 February 2012: The winners of the Universal Postal Union’s (UPU) International letter-writing competition for 2011 were presented with their awards during the closing ceremony of the International Year of Forests 2011, held at UN Headquarters in New York, US.

Wang Sa from China read her letter during the closing ceremony, while Charlée Gittens from Barbados addressed the audience by video. In attendance were Sha Zukang, UN Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, and Jan McAlpine, Director of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) Secretariat, who praised the UPU letter-writing competition for raising awareness of forest issues among the two million youth who participated globally. [UPU Press Release]