VARMULPEX 2026 closes with Walnut special cover and philatelic awards

VARMULPEX 2026 concluded in Baramulla after two days of exhibits, student activities and public programmes, with the closing ceremony marked by the release of a special postal cover devoted to the walnut, Kupwara district’s One District One Product. The district-level philatelic exhibition was held at the Sir Syed Ahmad Khan Auditorium on the University of Kashmir’s North Campus at Delina. Its final programme on 1 October brought together postal officials, university representatives, school groups, exhibitors and competition winners, while the detailed results and closing report were published on 2 October.

The Walnut special cover was released by Col Sagar Hanuman Singh, Chief Postmaster General of the Jammu and Kashmir Circle, in the presence of Dr Sheikh Ghulam Mohammad, director of the University of Kashmir’s North Campus and guest of honour at the ceremony. Senior postal officials present included Adam Mohi-U-Din, Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Srinagar; G M Shah, Assistant Director of Postal Services; and G R Bhat, Superintendent of Post Offices, Baramulla Postal Division. The cover links the exhibition to Kupwara’s best-known agricultural product and gives collectors a locally grounded piece of postal history combining regional identity, economic heritage and the ODOP programme.

Its release also completed a pair of place-specific special covers associated with the exhibition. Opening-day coverage recorded a cover featuring Habba Khatoon Peak, while the second day added the Walnut cover. Together they frame the event through two contrasting subjects from northern Kashmir: a mountain landscape carrying literary and cultural associations, and a cultivated product tied to livelihoods and trade. For thematic collectors, the pair crosses several established fields, including mountains, agriculture, trees and nuts, regional development, Kashmir studies and Indian special covers. For postal historians, the exhibition setting and release sequence give each item a documented date and institutional context rather than leaving it as an isolated souvenir.

VARMULPEX was designed as an exhibition as well as a programme for developing interest in stamps among younger participants. Students from ten schools took part in the quiz competition held on 30 September. Sanatorium Public School, Sopore, secured first place, Hanfia Model School, Delina, finished second and Budding Blooms School, Baramulla, placed third. The closing ceremony formally recognised those teams, turning the exhibition’s educational work into a visible part of the programme instead of treating youth engagement as a side activity. Col Singh encouraged students to take up philately and to participate in other Department of Posts initiatives, including letter-writing competitions, while Dr Mohammad emphasised philately’s role in education.

The accompanying Philately Run divided school participants into two age groups. In the Classes V to VII category, Atif Tariq and Rasib of Sanatorium Public School took first and second positions, with Mohsin Mir of Beacon House School third. In the Classes VIII to IX category, Zaid and Abrar of Greenland Public School, Delina, placed first and second, while Mohsin of Government Middle School, Delina, was third. Recording these results matters because the run broadened the exhibition beyond the frames in the hall and made philately visible as a community activity. It also reflects the Department of Posts’ wider practice of combining exhibitions with competitions and outreach intended to bring school-age participants into stamp collecting.

The competitive exhibits were assessed by a local jury including Chander M Bhat, Adam Mohi-U-Din, G M Shah and G R Bhat. In the student class, Avani Pandita won first place and Syed M Sulyman second, while Fareeha Mastoor and Raheel Hammad shared third place. In the senior class, Ajay Pandita, Ashiq Hussain and Ankush received first, second and third places respectively. These awards docume