NEW YORK — The USPS August Wilson Forever stamp, released on Thursday Jan. 28, has sparked a local drawing competition for local high school students. The competition, whose grand winning entry boasts a virtual lunch with Grammy Award winning jazz musician Gregory Porter, is a celebration of theatre, art, design and music.

To educate the younger generation on the virtues of traditional letter writing, the competition asks students to draw or design an August Wilson-themed envelope and submit a digital image of it to be judged by a panel of experts. The top three judge’s picks will be announced in a Feb. 25 virtual ceremony and presented with awards.   

Students who are residents of Connecticut and New York are invited to submit a photo of the original art to AugustArt2021@usps.gov.

“Today’s kids rely heavily on digital platforms for communication and this is an exciting way for them to learn more about traditional letter writing,” said Postal Service Strategic Communication Specialist Amy Gibbs. “Students are asked to email me a photo of their art, it can either be a physical drawing on an envelope or a digitally produced envelope. The design has to look like a mailable envelope with room for a stamp and address. The drawing must contain elements of August Wilson, but abstract is also allowable. The idea is to celebrate art, music and theatre and have some creative fun,” Gibbs added.

The USPS drawing competition is kicking off just as theatres around the nation are gearing up for the National August Wilson Monologue competition. This competition, hosted annually, gives students an opportunity to compete for prizes and theatre opportunities.

“The goal of the August Wilson Monologue competition is to build partnerships with schools and theatres across the United States, and to create educational materials about August Wilson that allow students to connect these important theatre works with educational curricula like history, social studies and literature. This monologue competition offers students of all races the opportunity to inhabit the lives and speak the words of these vital, lively characters,” said Long Wharf Theatre Director of Marketing and Communications King Kenney.

Gibbs hopes the spirit of the drawing competition will fill a gap while students, who can’t perform live on stage during the pandemic, might be itching for a creative outlet.

The competition, which officially opened on Feb. 1, will close Feb. 18 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  

Students do not have to be currently enrolled in a school to participate.

“The competition is open to all high-school aged kids, and that includes homeschoolers and non-traditional learners. This is a celebration of diversity,” said Gibbs.

Details:

• Competition begins Feb. 1, 2021
• Deadline for submissions is Feb. 18
• Date of virtual event: Feb. 25, 2021 (RSVP to amy.n.gibbs@usps.gov for Zoom link)
• Open to all New York and Connecticut high school-aged residents (13-19 years old)

The envelope competition:

Rules and regulations:

• By participating, students agree to have their work displayed on USPS social media platforms and at a virtual ceremony on Feb. 25, 2021.
• Digital submissions can be emailed to AugustArt2021@USPS.gov (photos of the envelopes or digital files of the designs).
• Designs must look like a mailable envelope and incorporate a stamp and room for address into the design (no real addresses please).  

About the stamp:
Released on Jan. 28, 2021 award-winning playwright August Wilson (1945-2005) is the latest inductee into the USPS Black Heritage Stamp series. This is the 44th stamp in the series.

The stamp features an oil painting of Wilson based on a 2005 photograph. Behind Wilson, a picket fence alludes to the title of Fences, one of his best-known plays.

For more information, visit usps.com/blackheritage-augustwilson.

Background of August Wilson:
One of America’s greatest playwrights, Wilson is hailed as a trailblazer for helping to bring nonmusical African American drama to the forefront of American theater.

In a cycle of plays that dramatize the experiences of African Americans during each decade of the 20th century, Wilson focused on the reality of his characters’ hopes and struggles in the face of daunting odds. Using lyrical language, he blended the emotion of the blues with an insistence on the ennobling distinctiveness of African American history and culture.

Wilson collected innumerable accolades for his work, including seven New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards; a Tony Award, for 1987’s “Fences”; and two Pulitzer Prizes, for “Fences” and 1990’s “The Piano Lesson.”

About Gregory Porter:
One of the greatest voices of our generation, two-time Grammy Award winning singing sensation Gregory Porter released his sixth studio album ALL RISE (Blue Note) in August of 2020.

Following 2017's heartfelt tribute album Nat King Cole & Me, ALL RISE marks a return to Porter's beloved original songwriting. The 15-song set features Porter’s trademark heart-on-sleeve lyrics imbued with everyday philosophy and real-life detail, set to an exhilarating mix of jazz, soul, blues, gospel, and pop including the uplifting lead single “Revival,” the stirring protest song “Mister Holland,” and the soulful ode to flight “Concorde,” which was launched last month in connection with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission.

As Porter worked out this album's direction, he looked inward, upward, and around him, and arrived at a raison d'être found in the title, ALL RISE. “We hear that phrase when presidents or judges come into the room,” says Porter, “but I'm thinking all of us rise — not just one person being exalted. We are all exalted and lifted up by love. This is my political thought and my real truth. It comes from my personality, my mother's personality, the personality of the blues, and of black people. It's this idea of making do with the scraps, of résurrectionn and ascension, and of whatever the current situation is, it can get better through love.”

Porter won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2014 for Liquid Spirit and in 2017 for Take Me to the Alley. Although Porter now lives California where he was born, he has roots in Brooklyn, NY. Porter moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn in 2004, along with his brother Lloyd. He worked as a chef at Lloyd's restaurant Bread-Stuy (now defunct), where he also performed. Porter performed at other neighborhood venues including Sista's Place and Solomon's Porch, and moved on to Harlem club St. Nick's Pub, where he maintained a weekly residency. Out of this residency evolved what would become Porter's touring band.

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