“The essence and culture of a country can be compressed in an image. To realize this in a space as small as a postage stamp and to globally communicate in this way the history of a country is for me a recurring challenge.” This is how Evangelina Raffaelli, the winner of the Yehudi Menuhin Trophy 2020, describes her work. “Due to the variety of topics that I encounter in my work, I feel that designing postage stamps is a dream come true.”
Evangelina Cinthia Raffaelli was born in Buenos Aires in 1983 and took courses in painting and drawing from an early age. From 2001 she studied graphic design at the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism of the University of Buenos Aires, and then worked there as a graphic design teacher for six years. During her university studies, she already worked in various advertising agencies and design studios. Evangelina Raffaelli has been part of the design team in the philatelic department of Correo Argentino since 2013. Several of the stamps she has designed have since won international awards. In the area of popular music she designed the stamp for the singer songwriter Gustavo Cerati (2015), the “Hommage to Astor Piazzolla” in 2018 as well as the “Hommage to Carlos Gardel” and, in collaboration with Sebastián Adano, the “Filatelia Argentina: Tango” issues of 2019. In the vote for the most popular music stamp of 2019, the latter stamp (Michel 3839), issued by Correo Argentino on 26 August 2019, took first place with 222 votes (6.87%).
Eligible this year were 66 stamps from 44 postal administrations. Collectors from 58 countries from all 5 continents took part in the online voting. With 197 votes (6.10%) the stamp commemorating the Foundation of Chilean Children’s and Youth Orchestras (FOJI) came in second. The foundation maintains 18 symphony orchestras across the country and supports the musical development of more than 1,000 young musicians with scholarships. The postage stamp designed by Mauricio Navarro González (Michel 2599) was issued by Correos Chile on 12 July 2019.
Third place went to the special stamp for the 130th birth anniversary of the Ukrainian actor, singer and songwriter Alexander Nikolayevich Wertinsky (1889-1957), which received 180 votes (5.57%). Vasyl Vasylenko was responsible for the design of this stamp (Michel 1775), issued by Ukrposhta on 21 March 2019.
