Special Regulations for the Evaluation of Philatelic Literature Exhibits at FIP Exhibitions

Special Regulations for the Evaluation of Philatelic Literature Exhibits at FIP Exhibitions

Article 1 Competitive Exhibits

In accordance with Article 1.4 and 5.3 of the General Regulations of the FIP for the Evaluation of Competitive Exhibits at FIP Exhibitions (GREV), these Special Regulations have been developed to supplement those principles with regard to the Philatelic Literature. For further details, refer to the Guidelines for Judging Philatelic Literature.

Article 2 Classification of Exhibits

2.1 Philatelic literature exhibit can be any

publication (monograph, periodical or digital media), that is related to  the investigative research in the field of philately and/or  the documentation, the education and the promotion of philately.

2.2 Philatelic Literature can be divided into three categories.  Monographs  Periodicals  Digital media

Detailed information about these categories is given in the Guidelines.

Article 3 Criteria for Evaluating Exhibits

Literature exhibits will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

Treatment of Contents Requires an evaluation of the literary style, clarity, and skill in communication shown in the exhibit,

Originality, significance, depth of research Requires an evaluation of the overall significance of the subject matter presented in the exhibit, as well as the degree to which the exhibit displays original discoveries, research, analysis or approaches to a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

Technical matters Require an evaluation of the overall standards of the exhibit.

Presentation Requires an evaluation of the general layout and clarity of the exhibit.

Article 4 Judging of Exhibits

4.1 Literature exhibits will be judged by FIP accredited jurors in accordance with Section V of GREX. Literature judges should have a reading ability in at least two languages, one of which must be any of the official FIP languages (Article 29.1 of the Statutes). Furthermore, at least one of the jurors has to have good skills in using digital media.

4.2 For Literature exhibits, the following relative terms are presented to lead the Jury to a balanced evaluation:

• Treatment of contents · 40
• Originality, significance and depth of research · 40
• Technical matters · 15
• Presentation · 5
• Total · 100

Article 5 Concluding Provision

5.1 In the event of any discrepancies in the text arising from translation, the English text shall prevail.

5.2 These Special Regulations for the Evaluation of Philatelic Literature Exhibits at FIP Exhibitions have been confirmed by the Literature Bureau on 19 July 2022. It was approved by the FIP Board on 8 August 2022 in Jakarta, Indonesia and ratified during the 76th FIP Congress on 10 August 2022 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Supplementary Rules for the Philatelic Literature Class in FIP Exhibitions

Rule 1: These supplementary rules for the admission of Literature Exhibits have been developed under Article 3.3 of the General Regulations of the FIP for Exhibitions (GREX) and will apply to all literature entries in General and Specialized Exhibitions of FIP (GREX Article 2).

Rule 2: In amplification of Article 17.1 (GREX), entries may be exhibited by the author, compiler, editor, publisher, sponsoring organization or society, or any other individual holding proprietary rights.

Rule 3: A literature exhibit may be admitted provided the exhibitor, as defined under Rule 2 above, meets the qualification requirement of GREX Article 10.1. Recently published works which have not had the opportunity to be exhibited at a national exhibition may directly participate in a FIP exhibition (GREX Article 10.3).

Rule 4: A separate application form will be used for entries in the literature class. In addition to the other information needed by the Exhibition Management, this form should also include the publication date, publisher, number of pages, frequency of publication (for periodicals) and means of ordering the publication (address, price).

Rule 5: One copy of each literature exhibit shall be provided by the exhibitor. Following the exhibition this copy shall be sent by the Exhibition Management to a library designated by the member federation hosting the exhibition, unless the exhibitor specifically asks for the return of this copy.

Rule 6: The entry fee for a literature exhibit should not exceed the price of one frame in the general competition class of the same exhibition.

Rule 7: The Exhibition Management shall furnish the judges a list of literature entries at least three months prior to the exhibition.

Rule 8: Handbooks and special studies must have been published not earlier than 5 years prior to the exhibition year. For all other entries the publication date should be not earlier than 2 years prior to the exhibition year. For multivolume works, the date of publication of each volume shall govern. Revised editions will be considered as new publications. For periodicals, the most recent complete volume or year shall be exhibited. A selection of at least ten different newspaper articles is required for exhibition.

For entries of digital media these time limits do not apply but websites must be active and software should run on current operating systems.

Rule 9: Literature entries are also eligible for awards, felicitations and special prizes (Article 8.3 and 8.6 GREX).

Rule 10: Literature entries should be placed in a reading area with easy access for the visitors (Article 6.7 GREX). A supervised reading area must be clearly designated as such, the literature on display as exhibits of the exhibition. Whenever possible, the printed literature exhibits should include an information sheet on who to order them from and at what price, if not possible this information may be published on the exhibition website.

Rule 11: In the event of any discrepancies in the text arising from translation, the English text shall prevail.

Guidelines for Judging Philatelic Literature Introduction These guidelines are intended as a checklist which is detailed enough to be of service for specialized literature exhibitions as well as for general philatelic exhibitions in which literature is only one of several classes.

General Principles While the majority of the principles in exhibiting philatelic literature is identical to those which apply to other philatelic classes as well, there are certain distinct differences.

In the first place, the significance and importance of a piece of literature cannot be seen from the outside. Literature must be judged by its content, and obviously the judges have to be familiar with that content before the start of the exhibition. While the three to five days available for judging will allow time for review and some reading, it in no way suffices for each judge to read each entry thoroughly.

Second, literature exhibits cannot be taken apart and improved from one show to the next. In many cases, the exhibit represents a lifetime of research and effort which will serve philately for years to come. For this reason, the exhibiting of philatelic literature must be looked at primarily as a means of encouraging and promoting such literary efforts, and only secondarily as a competition for various levels of awards.

Third, it follows that the public must be able to examine the literature. A glance at a row of books in a locked case gives little information, and is a disservice to the viewer and the exhibitor. It is the content that is of interest, not the covers.

The FIP has developed a comprehensive set of regulations for evaluating philatelic exhibits, incorporating those FIP principles common to all competitive classes. For philatelic literature, these principles are expressed in the Special Regulations for the Evaluation of Philatelic Literature Exhibits at FIP Exhibitions. They are supplemented by provisions which recognize aspects of philatelic literature which are unique to this class, the Supplementary Rules for the Philatelic Literature Class in FIP exhibitions.

The two documents, taken as a whole, constitute the requirements for exhibiting and judging philatelic literature at FIP exhibitions.

Categories of Philatelic Literature Philatelic Literature can be divided into three categories.

• a. Monographs Monographs are detailed written studies of a single specialized subject or an aspect of it. They include  bibliographies,  special studies, handbooks and other similar publications,  general or specialized non-periodical catalogues,  specialized auction catalogues,  documentation of collections,  exhibition catalogues,  documents from lectures,  collections of articles forming an independent entity.
• b. Periodicals Periodicals are publications that appear regularly. They include  magazines or journals published weekly, monthly or other regular intervals,  catalogues published in regular intervals,  auction catalogues published in regular intervals,  yearbooks and similar publications.
• c. Digital media Digital media include all kinds of digitally produced and used publications that comply with Article 2 of SREV. These cannot be defined precisely because of the continuous development of technology, but they include for example  Websites,  Applications or software.

Use of the Evaluation System The use of a point system, together with appropriate “scoring sheets”, can be helpful in reaching balanced and rational evaluations. However, it must be emphasized that such a system cannot be applied mechanically; the final point totals also must be looked at in terms of the overall quality of the exhibits.

Printed and digital media have two different scoring approaches.

A. Scoring categories and considerations of printed monographs and periodicals Treatment of contents – Authorship  How well is story identified & told?  Evaluation of literary style, clarity  Skill in communication Originality, significance, depth of research – Philatelic Aspects  Overall significance = global importance to philately  Degree of original discoveries, research, analysis  Comprehensive = depth & scope  Understanding of subject Technical matters – Editorial aspect  How well is work constructed?  Title page, imprint, pagination, list of contents, use of footnotes  Acknowledgements, bibliography, index & use of illustrations & tables - captions, consistency in layout & text PRESENTATION – Publishing aspect

 Effect of binding, clarity of print, paper quality, page size  Use of colour in illustrations

Scoring categories and considerations of digital media B. Digital monographs and periodicals Treatment of contents – Authorship  Clarity of writing style  Chapter structure  Quality of illustrations  Index  Searchability  Footnotes  Use of hyperlinks  Navigation around digital document. Originality, significance, depth of research – Philatelic Aspects  Overall significance = global importance to philately  Degree of original discoveries, research, analysis (new or revised research)  Comprehensive = depth & scope (depth of coverage of subject)  Understanding of subject.

Technical matters – Editorial aspect  Typography  Ease of obtaining product  Medium (e.g. USB drive, DVD, CD, download)  Platform (e.g. PC, Mac, iPad, phone)  Compatibility with current and old versions of operating systems. Presentation – Publishing aspect  Visual appearance;  Adherence to disability guidelines re use of colour.

C. Websites Treatment of contents – Authorship  Usability  Functionality  Data content  Navigation  Pagination  Page structure  Appropriate use of free v restricted pages  Searchability. Originality, significance, depth of research – Philatelic Aspects  Creativity  Breadth of scope covered. Technical matters – Editorial aspect  Platform (e.g. PC, Mac, iPad, phone);  Compatibility with current and old versions of operating systems. Presentation – Publishing aspect  Visual appearance;  Adherence to disability guidelines re use of colour.

D. Applications or Software Treatment of contents – Authorship  Technical innovation;  How much of the software is original development v packaged use of standard IT tools.

Originality, significance, depth of research – Philatelic Aspects  Usability  Functionality of philatelic aspects of product  Navigation. Technical matters – Editorial aspect  Ease of obtaining product  Medium (e.g. USB drive, DVD, CD, download)  Platform (e.g. PC, Mac, iPad, phone)  Compatibility with current and old versions of operating systems. Presentation – Publishing aspect  Visual appearance;  Adherence to disability guidelines re use of colour.

Two aspects of the thought process in judging are worth stressing First, judges should look first for the positive aspects of the exhibits, rather than merely looking to see “how many points can I take off”.

Second, all evaluations have to be made on a comparative basis with respect to what else has been published on that subject, how well similar matters are handled in other publications, even such questions as how significant a given publication may be for one country or language group as compared with others. These comparative factors can all change from one year or one exhibition to another, and it’s conceivable that such changes may affect the evaluation of an exhibit.

Concluding Provisions In the event of any discrepancies in the text arising from translation, the English text shall take precedence.

These Guidelines for the Judging of Philatelic Literature Exhibits at FIP Exhibitions have been confirmed by the Literature Bureau on 19 July 2022. It was approved by the FIP Board on 8 August 2022 in Jakarta, Indonesia and ratified during the 76th FIP Congress on 10 August 2022 in Jakarta, Indonesia.