The Sovereign Military Order of Malta has won the Award for the best postal issue of 2022 on the theme “Environment”.

It is the € 2.70 sheet issued on 23 March last year to celebrate World Environment Day.

The prestigious award was given by the jury of the 53rd edition of the International Prize “Asiago” for philatelic art, for the harmonious and incisive composition of realistic elements (large and small animals, plants and flowers) and symbolic ones (the terrestrial sphere that provides them with the basis for living) with the presence of man recalled only by the grey background of the image, as if to represent an environment that man compromises more and more every day.

The award ceremony took place on the morning of Sunday 23rd July 2023 in the Salone dei Quadri of Asiago’s City Hall, in the province of Vicenza.

The Prize “Asiago” of philatelic art – promoted since 1971 by the Municipality of Asiago, and the philatelic and numismatic club Sette Comuni – is the highest award given internationally to postal administrations for postal issues. Chaired by Prof. Giovanni Luigi Fontana in his capacity as president pro tempore of the prestigious Accademia Olimpica di Vicenza, the judging panel is made up of well-known exponents of the philatelic world and civil society, who are called upon to express their opinions on the most significant postal issues from the five continents.

This is the first time that Poste Magistrali has been awarded what is considered, among insiders, to be the Oscar of philately.