ArtStamps Announces National Award Winners for US Postage Design.

National Achievement Award Supports Creativity and Literacy

HARTFORD, Conn. -- ArtStamps, LLC, a national school fundraiser that turns student artwork into U.S. postage, announced the winners of its National Achievement Award to promote creativity and literacy in education. In its first year, the competition featured ArtStamps entries from nearly 1,000 students from across the country.

ArtStamps honored 20 students from California, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Top honors received $500 and runner-ups received $125. Each winner also received framed commemoratives of their postage design. The ArtStamps entries were judged on talent and creativity. To be eligible for the National Achievement Award, student art submissions had to be converted into U.S. postage and/or note cards.

ArtStamps awarded two students with the National Achievement Award, Elizabeth Metcalf, 16, from the Saddleback Valley Unified School District in Mission Viejo, California and Klaudia Stachura, 15, from Elmwood Park Middle/High School in Elmwood Park, New Jersey. Metcalf received top national honors for her Opera piece and Stachura for her Holly Berry postage design.

ArtStamps developed the National Achievement Award to promote creativity and literacy in schools. The company's mission is to support the inherent creativity of youth by allowing them to experience school fundraising in a unique and extraordinary way. ArtStamps converts student art created in the classroom into US postage, which is then sold by students to support their schools.

"The artwork submitted by the students is truly remarkable because it's connected to US postage," said George A. Castineiras, founder and CEO of ArtStamps. "ArtStamps is committed to literacy by reintroducing kids to the art of letter writing in a time when text messaging and email are the preferred forms of communication."

The National Achievement Award aims to remind students, parents, teachers, and school administrators that creativity is important to every child's education. The National Achievement Award winners can be viewed and purchased on ArtStamps' Stamps Collectibles Web page to be launched in May 2007: https://www.myartstamps.com/html/collectibles.html. Proceeds from each sale will continue to support creativity, literacy and education.

ArtStamps is available to schools, school districts, educators, parents, parent/teacher organizations, and other groups across the U.S. To learn more about ArtStamps' 2007 National Achievement Awards visit www.myartstamps.com or call 1 877 4 A STAMP

About ArtStamps

Based in Hartford, Connecticut, ArtStamps, LLC is a privately held company that believes in supporting creativity, literacy and education. It's patent-pending fundraising process provides a way for schools to conduct fundraising that is safe, healthy and creative by converting original student art into U.S. postage and note cards. More information about ArtStamps can be found at http://www.myartstamps.com or by calling (877) 4 A STAMP.