AMERISTAMP EXPO 2009 1-Frame Team Results

The fourth annual AAPE 1-Frame Team Competition was held February 20-22 at AmeriStamp Expo 2009 held in Arlington Texas. Seven teams, including one from Calgary, Canada, participated.

This year�s winning team "The Golden Warriors" consisted of Cheryl R. Ganz, Matthew Kewriga, George Krieger, Don David Price and Ben Ramkissoon. Each member of the team received a beautiful inlaid wood box. The team entries were:

Ganz: "The 50� Zeppelin Issue: A Study in Design"
Kewriga: "U.S. 1870 2� Jackson Bank Note: From Model to Completed Design"
Krieger: "Uganda: Queen Victoria Issue of 1898"
Price: "U.S. Department of State Dollar-Value Officials of 1873"
Ramkissoon: "The Aerogrammes of Independent Anguilla"

Scoring for the 2009 edition differed significantly from prior contests. This year, instead of requiring teams to include at least three "new" exhibits, teams were given a bonus of 5 points for each new entry. An exhibit was deemed new if it had not previously been shown at the national or international level.

Likewise, teams earned a 5-point bonus for each Type of exhibit as selected from: Traditional, Postal History, Postal Stationery, Revenue, Illustrated Mail, Display, Thematic, Aerophilately, Astrophilately, Cinderella, Special Study and Picture Postcard. Previously, teams were required to have five different Types represented in their entry.

A major change in scoring was that there were no scores. The jury used the new exhibit evaluation forms, which do not include points. Thus, the following values were assigned to medal levels: Gold = 100, Vermeil = 90, Silver = 80, Silver-Bronze =70, Bronze = 60 and Certificate = 50.

Additionally, teams earned bonus points for special awards. Winning the 1-Frame Grand Award earned 10 points, while all other awards, including the Reserve Grand Awards, earned 5 points. The table below lists the teams and the points each won.

Team Name
 NewTypeMedalBonusTotal
The Golden Warriors151048020525
Collectors Club of San Francisco20254705520
Coast to Coast152047015520
World Forum Philatelists152546010510
Portuguese Philatelic Phanatics252044015500
Not Grumpy Old Men102544015*490
Calgary "Stamp"ederes10204205455

* total includes 10 point bonus for 1-Frame Grand Award

Tie-breaking rules were used to establish 2nd and 3rd places. The tie-breaking rules were 1) number of new exhibits, 2) number of Types, 3) number of Gold medals � 7) number of Bronze medals, and 8) number of special awards. When the rules requiring three new exhibits and five different Types were replaced with bonuses, it was feared that the number of new exhibits would decline and diversity would suffer. Indeed, there were fewer new exhibits this year compared to prior editions. In 2009, 22 of the 35 entries (63%) were deemed new versus 30 of 40 (75%) for last year. On the plus side, the number of new exhibits still met the goal that three of every five exhibits be new. All entries for the Portuguese Philatelic Phanatics were new exhibits!

Diversity also declined somewhat. There were 12 Traditional entries (34%) in this contest versus 7 of 40 entries (18%) last year. Still, two teams, "World Forum Philatelists" and "Not Grumpy Old Men" entered teams with no duplicate Types. While entries skewed towards Traditional, all but one Type was represented in the contest: Traditional (12), Postal Stationery (4), Postal History, Thematic and Illustrated Mail (3 each), Display, Cinderella, Special Study and Revenue (2 each), as well as Aerophilately and Picture Postcard. Astrophilately was again the lone exception.

The table shows that points for new exhibits and diversity of Types can have a significant impact on the outcome. With the top four teams separated by just 15 points, the incentive points can make quite a difference. Perhaps, we�ll see more teams taking advantage of these points in future editions.

There is one potential for a problem with the revised scoring method. With a 5-point bonus awarded for each special award, is would be possible for a team to "load" the contest by providing numerous awards that would specifically benefit their team. For example, the Upper-Bongoland International Philatelic Society could hold its annual convention in conjunction with AmeriStamp and provide a slew of exhibition awards. U-BIPS then enters a team and reaps that slew of awards. To preclude this scenario, it is suggested that only the top award of any specialized group be eligible for bonus points. Once this issue is resolved, the revised rules will be posted on the AAPE web site.

Special thanks go to Dana Guyer, APS Director of Shows & Exhibitions, and Barb Johnson, Assistant Director, for coordinating the team contest with AAPE. We appreciate their cooperation. A big "thank you!" also goes out to Pat Walker for once again picking out great prizes for the winning team.

The next edition of the 1-Frame Team Competition will be held in conjunction with AmeriStamp Expo 2010, to be held February 19-21 in Riverside, California. Start planning now to enter a team!