Stamps of Austria: A Healthy Diet (2015)

Jakob Hansbauer convinced the jury with a collage of fruit and vegetables, and it is his subject that can be found on the 2015 Youth Stamp. This stamp is not created by famous artists but instead by young people themselves – for four years, there has been a youth creativity competition in which large numbers of young-generation artists from throughout Austria have participated.

This year, young people were encouraged to submit drawings, paintings, collages or photographs on the topic of a healthy diet – the technique being at the participant’s choice. The topic of a healthy diet is particularly important for children and young people because it is at this early age that the basis is laid for later dietary habits. Obesity is a topic that affects an increasing number of young people, and a varied age-appropriate diet with plenty of vegetables and fruit is the best precondition for turning healthy children and young people into healthy adults.
The youngsters had time until the end of January to submit their works of art, which they did in large numbers. After the closing date, an expert jury selected their favourite. The choice fell on Jakob Hansbauer, a 14-year-old stamp collector from Elsbethen near Salzburg, where he attends the grammar school in Akademiestrasse. Like many others, he had read about the competition in the journal “Die Briefmarke”, which he receives each month through his Austrian Post subscription, and decided to participate. Jakob, who likes drawing in his free time, designed a face, made up of a head of cabbage, carrot hair, an orange, a pear, a pea pod and a banana, and winking cheerfully. As he said in the interview with Sybille Pudek, the head of the Youth Department of the Federation of Austrian Philately Associations (VÖPh) for the magazine “Die Briefmarke”, his idea was that this picture should generate an appetite for fruit and vegetables. He is particularly proud that his drawing is now decorating the stamp, since he collects all the stamps he can get his hands on. His other hobbies include hiking and nature, as he said in the interview.
This stamp, the result of this year’s “Young people for a healthy diet” competition, has a nominal value Euro 0.68 with a surcharge of 20 cent to be used for the youth work of the Federation of Austrian Philately Associations. This includes a large number of activities such as school projects in which children are introduced to philately, seminars and the provision of material to youth groups. In addition, this 20 cent surcharge is used for presence at exhibitions and for the holding of the “Young people’s day” at the Christkindl post office near Steyr.