Postage contest.

Personalized postage company Stamps.com Inc. and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum launched a "PhotoStamp of the Year" contest in June. The Santa Monica-based company pioneered the custom stamps program, which allows consumers to use their own photos to create valid U.S. postage.

The yearlong contest will give three winners the chance to have their PhotoStamps displayed at the Smithsonian museum. The grand-prize winner will also get an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to see the exhibit. The first runner up will receive a Canon digital camera, and the second runner up will receive a gift certificate for $250-worth of PhotoStamps. Each month, a panel of judges from Stamps.com will select three winners based on aesthetic value, originality, creativity and "the story behind the image." Those winners will be entered into the grand-prize selection process.

The PhotoStamps program launched last year as a trial program and recently gained government approval to offer businesses advertising-and logo opportunities on stamps. The U.S. Postal Service has embraced personalized postage as a way to freshen interest in snail-mail. Stamps.com is one of three companies authorized to provide custom photo-stamps. The others are Zazzle Inc. and Endicia Internet Postage, both of Palo Alto.

Staff reporter Hilary Potkewitz can be reached at [phone], ext. 226, or by e-mail at [e-mail].