The British Thematic Association has announced a new virtual competition. Full details are shown below.
Rules
1. There will be seven philatelic classes:
o Thematic Philately – Nature
o Thematic Philately – Science and Technology
o Thematic Philately – Culture
o Open Philately
o Topical
o Picture Postcards
o Youth Philately. Split into:
– Up to and including age 9
– Ages 10 – 14
– Ages 15 – 17
2. All entries require an application form to be completed.
3. The exhibit must tell a story (with the exception of Topical entries), not a list of stamps or a procession of stamps but material that is linked to tell a story.
4. The exhibit page must have a clear title on it.
5. The entry may be on A4 or A3 size white or pale cream paper. A3 entries must contain a greater range of material and the story should have more content than A4 entries.
6. An exhibit (apart from Postcard entries) will be expected to show A3 entries must contain greater range of material, more than just stamps. Cancellations, air letters, telegrams, stamp booklets and postal stationery are but a few alternatives. Using a variety of material makes the exhibit more interesting and gives the exhibitor a greater range of material to tell the story. The Open Philately Class gives the opportunity to supplement the philatelic material with a variety of non-philatelic material rather than just postcards.
7. The exhibit must be in English
8. The exhibitor will be expected to demonstrate good presentation, but grammar or spelling will be disregarded; particularly from those for whom English is not their first language.
9. Every item must be shown full size. Scanned reduced images of the reverse of covers etc. are permitted, shown next to the full-size front, with a note that they are being shown at a reduced rate.
10. The exhibitor must own all the material exhibited
11. Awards will be in 4 categories:
○ Diamond: all the elements listed in rules 3 – 10 achieved to a good standard;
○ Ruby: all or most of the required elements, either to a fair standard or with one of the requirements missing;
○ Emerald: some of the elements included, but with perhaps one or two of those elements missing;
○ Opal: an exhibit which failed to meet all or many of the elements.
The top category in each class will be scored as follows:
Adult entries
Title and Introduction maximum 10
Presentation 15
The Story 40
Quality of material 10
Non-thematic information 15
Variety of material 10
100
Youth entries
The Story maximum 20
Knowledge of the material used 20
Variety of material (and non-philatelic) 20
Presentation 40
100
Click here to download the 2025 application form (Word doc.). Closing date for applications 31st January 2025.