03.03.2009 - Postcard drawing contest for schoolchildren to begin 03.03

Today, at the initiative of the Pähni Nature Centre of RMK, the postcard drawing contest “Estonian Pupils’ Forest Postcard 2009,” organised every spring, will begin for the seventh time already, and as a result of which a postcard set will be assembled from the 36 best cards. The contest, having received as many as three thousand plus works in earlier years, will be expecting forest and nature themed drawings by schoolchildren until 17 April.

According to Helina Tammemägi, Manager of the Pähni Nature Centre of RMK, the annual drawing contest is aimed at reminding children that, with the coming of spring, nature is all around us and calls on children to go take a walk in the forest. “It is always a pleasure to look at children’s drawings, as they are always very sincere and meaningful. The postcard set will, in turn, be recognition of the budding talent of the little artists,” said Tammemägi and added that this time, the drawings that depict this year’s bird or tree of the year, i.e., the tawny owl or hazel, are especially welcome.

The 36 cards that the jury likes the most will be printed into a postcard set, to be sent to all participating schools and the authors of the selected works, as a token of appreciation. The authors of the ten favourite drawings of the jury will be rewarded with a copy of a nature book. It will be possible to buy the postcard sets from the information points of RMK and the exhibition of the drawings will be up at Pähni Nature Centre until the end of the year.

The initiator of the idea of the forest postcard was the forest and nature man Vello-Taivo Denks, who worked as the chief forester of the Roosa forest district for more than three decades. At his initiative, the first contest was held in 2002, which was then only participated in by the schools of Võru County. A year later, the contest became national and more than one and a half thousand works were sent in. The following years also saw the submission of nearly the same number of wonderful drawings, and last year, contest works were sent from as many as 148 different Estonian schools.

The drawings must be made on one side of a thicker piece of paper in the size 10x15 or 15x10 cm. On the other side of the card, the author’s given name and surname, school and form of the pupil must be printed in block letters. The works should be handed to a teacher at school, who will send these by post, by 17 April at the latest, to the RMK Nature Centre at the address Pähni Village, Varstu Rural Municipality, 66116 Võru County.

RMK is a profit-making state agency established under the Forestry Act, aimed at sustainable and efficient management of the state forest. In addition to this, RMK creates possibilities for forest holidays and shapes nature awareness. RMK manages 38% of the Estonian forests.

Additional information:
Helina Tammemägi
Manager of RMK Pähni Nature Centre
Tel: +372 5300 2181
E-mail: pahni.looduskeskus@rmk.ee