The Fall 2007 American Stamp Dealers Association Inc. (ASDA) Mega-Event in New York City will include a new form of philatelic competition. Participants may submit a digital philatelic study (DPS). Such studies allow collectors to broaden the basis for the presentation of their research and knowledge and to complete studies which might not be undertaken in the framework of a conventional philatelic display or exhibit. It is expected that such studies will become very popular with collectors and students, and will lead to major advances in philatelic research and knowledge. The DPS accepted for the show will be displayed on both individual computer stations and by public computer projections at the Mega-Event to be held at Madison Square Garden, New York, October 25-28, 2007.

A DPS is an electronic file or set of files that tells a philatelic story such as: the change from traditional to pictorial designs in British Caribbean Colonies; the Pony Express; or mail from the Crimean war. It combines the elements of journal articles, exhibits and PowerPoint presentations into a final electronic presentation form (i.e. PowerPoint file, PDF file, etc.). Like an article, the primary focus is on the story as it is told, but, like an exhibit or PowerPoint presentation, the emphasis is placed on the illustrations with the text as supplementary. Examples of DPS from the Fall 2006 Mega-Event may be seen at the ASDA’s website.

A DPS may be submitted for entry in the show by an individual or by a team comprising no more than four people. Each team should have a designated Captain and all communication about the entry and the DPS should be submitted by, and will be sent to, the Captain of a team. Applications will be made by means of an official application form that must be received no later than Wednesday, August 1, 2007.

A DPS will be an electronic file or set of files that may not exceed a total of 200 Megabytes. It is recommended that it contain the material that would ordinarily be found on about 20 normal exhibit pages. The file(s) must be in a format or formats such as HTML (with relative paths), PowerPoint, PDF, or Word Documents that can be read or viewed by a Windows browser. It can include text and graphic images, including animation, but, it may not include sound. The DPS should have a title page that describes the topic of the study and indicates how it should be viewed (scrolled, use of hypertext linkages, Table of Contents in a frame, etc.). DPS that are not easily viewed by a novice computer user may be rejected.

The individual or team of individuals need not own the material that is displayed in the DPS but must have the legal right to include it in the DPS and allow its reproduction as described above. In addition to current ownership, they may have scanned it at an earlier point in time when they owned it, may have obtained written permission from the current owner to include it in the DPS, or have obtained it from some public source.

Judging of those DPS submitted in the competitive class will be undertaken by a panel of three judges. Several criteria will be assessed including, but not limited to, the intellectual merit of the subject chosen, the methodology of the study, the significance and appropriateness of the conclusions reached, the furtherance of philatelic knowledge and understanding, the completeness with which the story is told and illustrated, the concordance between text and illustrations, and the ease of use by the viewer. The Jury will select first, second and third place entries. Prizes will be awarded for first place and second place. An additional prize will be awarded to the DPS selected by viewers as the “Most Popular” exhibit. The Jury for 2007 will comprise Capt. Robert P. Odenweller R.D.P., Fran Adams and David Herendeen. The decisions by the judges shall be final.

For further information, contact Dr. Edward Grabowski at 908 337-0039 (email), Richard Maisel at 212 982-6796 (email), Colin Fraser at 845 679-0684 (email), or Jim Roselle at 516 759-7000 (email). The prospectus and full details on the DPS Exhibition are available under the STAMP WORLD NEWS section of the American Stamp Dealers Association web site.