WINNING CATS


Åland
2003


Randi
Randi
  Tovis
Tovis

Stamps reproducing photographs of cats were selected in a poll as the most beautiful stamps issued by Åland in 2003. The designs for the two stamps, issued March 14, 2003, were chosen from among the entries in a local photography competition. For this competition, the public was invited to send in photographs of their cats. Ten finalists were selected from the photographs received, and the public was given the opportunity to vote for their favorites.

Both Cats stamps are nondenominated. The stamp inscribed "1 klass" for domestic first-class mail shows the cat Randi in the foreground with a cliff in the municipality of Geta in the northern Åland in the background. Randi died of illness on June 4, 2004, at the age of sixteen. He was the beloved pet of Britt Osterberg, whose photograph of Randi placed first in the photography contest.

Pictured on the second-class stamp is the kitten Tovis as photographed by Jana Eriksson.

Åland Post reports that of the 2,636 votes cast in its poll for the most beautiful stamp of 2003, the Cats set received 597.

Åland is an autonomous island province located in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland, belonging to Finland. It has some 6,500 islands.



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