Finns have voted for the Linnansaari National Park as the most beautiful Finnish stamp of 2014 Designed by Teemu Ollikainen, the 1st class stamp was published in May 2014. This is the fifth and last stamp in a series depicting Finnish national parks.
Established in 1956, the Linnansaari National Park protects the valuable nature and beautiful landscapes of the Saimaa lakeland archipelago. Earlier stamps in the National Park series depicted the special features of Finnish nature, such as fells, forests and mires, in different seasons.
Linnansaari National Park received a total of 9.4 per cent of all the 22,112 votes. The voting took place on the Posti website and through the Postia Sinulle customer magazine. In 2014, 73 stamps were issued in 20 different publications in Finland.
The second and third places went to summer landscapes and fourth to bare buttocks
In the voting, the second and third places went to summer landscapes photographed by Janne Gröning, of which the Shore Landscape received 9.0 per cent of the votes and the Sunset 7.8 per cent. The summer themed stamps were published in the Sweet Summer booklet, which came out in May 2014 and contained a total of six stamps. Tero Jämsä was responsible for the graphic design of the stamps.
Fourth place in the voting went to the Tom of Finland stamp, in which a man is looking between a pair of buttocks. The stamp got 6.7 per cent of the votes. Designed by Timo Berry, the Tom of Finland stamp sheet became available in September 2014, arousing enormous attention.
Professionals behind the stamps
According to Posti's Design Manager Tommi Kantola, the voting result indicates that natural themes and landscapes in stamps attract people. "The stamp series featuring natural parks was crowned the winner this year, and as many as four landscape stamps from the Sweet Summer publication were voted for among the ten most beautiful stamps."
Kantola is also pleased about the success of the Tom of Finland stamps, which have aroused a lot of discussion around the world. "It is great that people are interested in stamps and that stamps also evoke public interest."
In particular, Kantola praises the professionals of visual design for the beautiful stamps. "Talented Finnish illustrators, graphic designers and photographers know how a fine stamp is made."
The ten most beautiful Finnish stamps of 2014
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