By Eleni Philippou
The British High Commission in Nicosia is kicking off its #PassportHero competition, an awareness-raising initiative anchoring a campaign to renew UK passports about to expire.
The Nicosia High Commission, together with its counterparts in Spain and Portugal, created the drive to spur holders to renew expiring travel documents in a timely way.
“Every year, the consular section of the British High Commission in Nicosia issues over 250 emergency travel documents; almost 30% of these documents involve expired passport cases,” said High Commission press officer Katerina Nicolaou.
Noticing the increased number of outdated passports, the British High Commission of the three countries joined forces to lead an interactive campaign, urging the public to be more aware of their travel documents’ expiration dates.
Hence, Nicosia’s British High Commission, along with Silverline Private School in Limassol launched the #PassportHero drawing competition on Wednesday, February 15, inviting school students to draw the campaign leaflet.
The children’s parents are then meant to upload and share their kids’ drawings on social media, adding the hashtag #PassportHero.
In this creative and participatory manner, the drive by the British High Commissions in Cyprus, Spain and Portugal aims “to raise awareness on passport safety and to remind parents to renew passports on time”, added Nicolaou.
Thereafter, the official launch of the campaign takes place on March 3 at Silverline Private School, followed by a short ceremony, after which competition submissions will be judged by a school committee.
The British High Commission calls on the public to share drawings via the UK in Cyprus Facebook page