Graceful envelope contest

The Iowa City Press Citizen Iowa reports that a local resident, Jeri Hobart was named one of 17 national winners among more than 350 entrants in the 2005 Graceful Envelope Contest.

For this year's contest, entrants had to use the letter "P" in a creative manner. Hobart's winning envelope (shown above) was covered with five 8-cent "Stamp Collecting" stamps from 1972 along with the words "philately" and "penmanship." According to the paper, it took Hobart about three months to come up with the idea but only about two hours to put it on paper.

The contest is sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers in recognition of the art of calligraphy and the role of letters in binding people together.

Hobart,58, received a certificate, and her entry, along with the other winning envelopes, will be on display at the National Association of Letter Carrier's headquarters in Washington, D.C., through June.

The paper quotes Hobart as saying, ""I love old stamps and the hobby of collecting stamps is called philately, so that starts with the letter 'P,' and my job is penmanship," she said. "... and it just so happens that my mother collected stamps forever and she gave me her stamp collection, and so I have this access to all these old stamps and I love using them."

To view all the winners, click here.