Rules and History

For Judges, the Criteria for the AAPE Youth Exhibit Awards (Updated and approved February 2015).

Please contact the Vesma Grinfelds, AAPE Youth C of C Director, for any question concerning criteria - vesmag@gmail.com

Today's young collectors are tomorrow's philatelic leaders. As has been proved by selections for the APS Young Philatelic Leaders Fellowship program, youth who are willing to make a commitment to the hobby are often those who get involved in active public aspects of it, including exhibiting. While AAPE recognizes that for some young people, exhibiting will be a passing fancy, for others it will be the beginning of a life-long commitment. AAPE wants to support this "planting of seeds" because doing so supports the hobby, because it provides a positive, rewarding, and enjoyable activity for those involved, and because it will help to insure the future of philatelic exhibiting.

To Youth Exhibitors--

Making a stamp exhibit is an exciting challenge that combines your interests in life with your interest in stamp collecting. Your interest might be sports, space travel, Revolutionary War history, butterflies, or any of hundreds of other subjects. All can be found celebrated in designs of stamps from around the world. If you have never exhibited stamps or are just beginning in our hobby, AAPE can help by matching you with an experienced adult mentor who can answer your questions and guide you on the path to winning prizes with your exhibit.

One possible goal is for you to participate in AAPE's Youth Champion of Champions competition, a yearly event where the best-in-show exhibits from each of the 30+ annual national shows held around the United States and Canada compete to become the national Youth Champion of Champions. Information about this Championship is presented below. You can also see from the exhibit subjects of the winners that a wide variety of interests can be made into stamp exhibits that are fun to create and will give you a lasting sense of pride.

If you would like more information on how to do a stamp exhibit, or would like to be matched with a mentor, you are invited to get in touch with one of us:

Kenneth R. Nilsestuen, President AAPE	Jane Sodero, Chair AAPE Youth Committee	Vesma Grinfelds, North American Youth Stamp Exhibiting Competition (NAYSEC) Director
nilsestuen@sbcglobal.net	jmfsodero@hotmail.com	vesmag@gmail.com

Once a year, AAPE sponsors a youth exhibit featuring the work of outstanding youth (primarily from the U.S. and Canada). Each participant has won a youth grand award at a nationally accredited show, as listed, in the United States or Canada, with at least a national level silver medal.

The program began as the American Youth Stamp Exhibiting Competition following a concept advanced by John Hotchner in 1987, which was adopted as an activity of AAPE.
The first chairman of AYSEC was Carl Burnett of Melbourne, Florida. He began the work of organizing in 1988, and the first running was at FLOREX '90.
Mike Jolly followed Burnett as Chairman, and Canadian shows were added as qualifiers. Following Jolly's untimely passing, Ada Prill took over the chair, and recast the competition as the "AAPE Youth Champion of Champions"; drawing Youth Grand Award winners from APS national shows.
Vesma Grinfelds is the current director.

Directors of the Youth Exhibiting Championship since its creation:

2012-today: Vesma Grinfelds (California)
2004-2012: Carol and Robert Barr (Illinois)
1997-2004: Ada Prill (New York)
1992-1996: Michael Jolly (New Jersey)
1988-1992: Carl Burnett (Florida)

Winners of the AAPE Youth Champion of Champions since its inception:

2023	GASS (Cleveland, Ohio)	Christina Esbeck	"CUPCAKES"
2022	GASS (Sacramento, California)	Amelia Kelbert	"The World of the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus Plexippus)"
2012	APS StampShow (Omaha, Nebraska)	Darren Corapcioglu	"The First Viewcards of Turkey"
2020	Cancelled
2021	Cancelled
2019	APS StampShow (Omaha, Nebraska)	Darren Corapcioglu	"The First Viewcards of Turkey"
2018	APS StampShow (Columbus, Ohio)	Darren Corapcioglu	"The Universe"
2017	APS StampShow (Richmond, VA)	Jack Nixon	"Canada 1952-57 Wildlife Series"
2016	BALPEX	Darren Corapcioglu	"The Universe"
2015	APS StampShow (Grand Rapids, MI)	Annika Fillion	"U.S. domestic rates for first class surface postal and post cards between 1873 and today"
2014	Minnesota Stamp Expo	Darren Corapcioglu	"The Universe"
2013	NAPEX (McLean, Va)	Jesse Chevrier	"Owls"
2012	Minnesota Stamp Expo	John Phillips	"America by Water"
2011	PNSE 2010	Adam Mangold	"Building a Nation - One State at a Time"
2010	Minnesota Stamp Expo	Tim Hodge	"Falconiforms (Birds of Prey)"
2009	NTSS - Dayton	Sabrina McGill	"Zoofari"
2008	Indypex	Dzintars Grinfelds	"The 'Three-Star' Issues of Latvia, 1921-1923"
2007	National Topical Stamp Show	Alyssah Xenia C. Alcala	"Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II"
2006	Indypex	Kurt Glatzfelder	"The Vostok Program"
2005	ROPEX (Rochester, NY)	Dzintars Grinfelds	"Central Lithuania"
2004	Indypex	Amber O'Reilly	"In Come the Pigs"
2003	NAPEX (McLean, Va)	Dzintars Grinfelds	"The 'Three-Star' Coat of Arms Issue of Latvia, 1922-1933"
2002	National Topical Stamp Show	Kent Kuran	"Postal History of California to 1900"
2001	National Topical Stamp Show	Dzintars Grinfelds	"The 'Three-Star' Coat of Arms Issue of Latvia, 1922-1933"
2000	Indypex	John Ryle	"Indiana 4-Bars - Types and Usages"
1999	Peach State Stamp Show (Atlanta)	Devin Shane Luster	"Basketball"
1998	Greater Toronto Stamp Show	Tim Jones	"The History of Man's Flight in the Earth's Atmosphere"
1997	Indypex	Ellice Miller	"How Writers Use Flowers to Interpret Their Ideas"
1996	Indypex (Indianapolis)	Joyce Adams	"The Quetzal Bird in Guatemalan Philately"
1995	Chicagopex	Charles Vukotich	"U.S. Bulk Letters: False Frankings 2/3/91-12/31/94"
1994	Philadelphia National Stamp Show	Charlotte Verge	"The Owls"
1993	Sescal (Los Angeles)	Andrew Kelley	"2c Red Washington Head, 1922"
1992	World Columbian (Chicago)	Kathryn Yadon	"The Bank Note Issues of 1870-1890"
1991	Omaha Stamp Show	Mark Sawyer	"Germania Issues of 1900-1922"
1990	Florex (Orlando)	Christine Jolly	"Postal Markings of Ireland to the Reforms of 1857"