Canadian philately proved its strength on the world stage once again this November, when five philatelists took home medals at the Chicagopex philatelic literature exhibition.
Held remotely this year due to COVID-19, the exhibition featured 33 literature submissions from around the world. Five Canadian exhibitors earned medals, including a pair of golds.
“Chicagopex is a great show,” said exhibitor Ed Kroft, of Vancouver, who was one of the gold medal winners. “It’s a very important show in the United States and attracts many sophisticated exhibitors, so the quality of the material was excellent.”
Kroft, who’s also the president of the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada, won a gold medal for his 2020 book, The Doar Ivri Issue of Israel: Postal and Commercial Usages of the Three High Value Stamps.
Also among the top winners was Harold Krische, of Langley, B.C., who won a gold for his December 2019 article, “The 1919 Ninoshima Camp Exhibition and its Postcards,” published in Japanese Philately, the official journal of the International Society of Japanese Philately.
Toronto’s Ralph Trimble, commonly referred to as the “Dean of Re-Entry Studies,” took home a large vermeil for his comprehensive website, re-entries.com. Philatelic re-entries are a “doubling of some or all of the design of a line-engraved postage or revenue stamp, caused by misapplication of the transfer roll on the plate,” according to Trimble.
Chris Hargreaves, of Kingston, Ont., also won a large vermeil for his work editing The Canadian Aerophilatelist, the quarterly journal of the Canadian Aerophilatelic Society.
Lastly, Wendi Trauzzi, of Brampton, Ont., won a large silver for her work editing Grand News, the regular journal of the Grand River Valley Philatelic Association.
The judges for the virtual literature exhibition included Chair Peter McCann; Bill DiPaolo; Doug Clark; and apprentice judge Akthem Al-Manaseer.
To view the full palmares, click here.