LI boy a winner in UN postal stamp contest

A Massapequa Park second-grader next month will put his stamp on world relations.

Michael Augello is one of eight winners of an international competition to design United Nations stamps that will be issued on April 2, World Autism Day.

Michael, 7, said he relishes the thought of inspiring people across the globe with his work of brightly colored circles.

"They'll see my drawing and ask, 'What was this made of?' " he explained recently. "Then they'll say, 'Let's make our own stamps.' "

Michael, diagnosed at 3 with autism spectrum disorder, described his winning design as "concentric circles" in the style of early 20th century French artist Robert Delaunay.

"[Delaunay's wife] Sonia and Robert liked to make things about circles, so they took tracers -- small, medium and large -- and traced them on paper and colored them in and outlined them in marker," said Michael, a student at McKenna Elementary School.

Michael's original work was crafted with crayon, watercolor, pencil and Sharpie marker.

It will appear in miniature on stamps to be used for mailing from UN headquarters in Manhattan, Geneva and Vienna.

Michael's art was chosen from about 200 submissions, UN Postal Administration officials said. The next youngest of the winners, most of whom have art show or art competition experience, was 19 years old.

"In the end, we selected images that would translate well on to the limited space we have for a postage stamp," postal administration chief David Failor said in a statement. "In particular, Michael's artwork appealed to us because of the dramatic use of colours and the simplicity of the design."

Michael's diagnosis of PDD-NOS, or pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified, is considered mild on the spectrum, his family said.

Though he likes art, his passion is numbers, said his mother, Louisa Augello. He has an uncanny memory, and from an early age rattled off presidents' names and repeated television show dialogue verbatim, she said.

The struggle to adjust the family to -- and prepare Michael for -- the implications of autism is long, hard and ongoing, Louisa Augello said.

"I am still learning about Michael and 'how to' on a daily basis," she said. "We have come so far as a family."

Michael, whose family also includes brother Nicholas, 4, and father Lenny, has undergone speech, occupational and physical therapy.

His routine now includes Cub Scout meetings, piano lessons and special services classes at the Mid-Island Y JCC in Plainview to build social skills.

Being honored by the UN is the latest achievement in what the family hopes will be a bright future for Michael.

"A lot of these people are adults who have art classes and experience," Lenny Augello said of the other stamp designers. "Our winner here is just a second-grader."