The North Toronto Stamp Club (NTSC) and Calgary Philatelic Society (CPS) have each taken home a pair of Star Route Awards, the newly revived newsletter and website competition for American Philatelic Society (APS) chapters.
In the website competition, the CPS won a gold award for its site at calgaryphilatelicsociety.com. The site’s webmaster is Dave Bartlet, of Calgary, who’s also a member Philatelic Specialists Society of Canada (PSSC).
The NTSC won a vermeil award for its recently redesigned site at northtorontostampclub.ca, which is administered by webmaster Leon Matthys, of Toronto.
In the newsletter competition, the bimonthly Newsletter of the North Toronto Stamp Club won a gold award. It’s edited by Grand Award-winning thematic exhibitor and PSSC member Jean Wang, also of Toronto.
The CPS also took home a gold award for its journal, the Calgary Philatelist, which is edited by Dale Speirs, of Calgary.
The Scouts on Stamps Society International (SOSSI), which has a Canadian chapter, also won a pair of awards. The international group earned a large vermeil award for its website, sossi.org, whose webmaster is Randall Frank, of Phoenix, Ariz., plus a large gold for its bimonthly SOSSI Journal, edited by Patrick Rourk, of Norwood, N.Y.
In 2015, SOSSI hosted its annual general meeting (AGM) in Canada for the first time in nearly 20 years. In 2022, the group is set to return to Canada for its next AGM, which will take place at CAPEX 22, the country’s fifth international show, slated for June 9-12 in Toronto.
The Sociedad Filatélica de Puerto Rico (Philatelic Society of Puerto Rico) was named the Grand Champion of the website competition for its site at sfpr1952.org, edited by Félix Luis Pérez-Folch Jr., of Hattiesburg, Miss.
The Grand Champion of the newsletter competition was the Post Boy, the Nevada Stamp Study Society’s monthly newsletter, which is edited by John Walter, of Reno, Nev.
“We want to thank all the courageous chapters who submitted their newsletters and websites to the competition,” said APS Executive Director Scott English at the virtual awards ceremony, available at youtu.be/CblOZ4v8Xyg. “We also would be remiss if we did not thank our tireless volunteer judges, who committed so much of their time to helping judge all of our great submissions.”