The Philatelic Youth Council has an award scheme to encourage young collectors to become involved with their hobby. It also gives young collectors an opportunity to assess themselves, to see how they are progressing with their general philatelic knowledge and, as the awards get higher, their exhibiting ability.
The Achievement Awards are presented to young stamp collectors who have achieved a level of success in stamp collecting. A Bronze Award is easy to obtain. It is assessed by a stamp club leader, interested parent or schoolteacher. Silver Bronze and Silver Awards have to be assessed by an approved stamp club leader and a Gold Award by an approved National Youth Judge.
Winners of each award will receive a PYC Achievement Award badge of the appropriate colour and a certificate to frame or mount in the front of a stamp album.
The criteria on how you can obtain the four awards are as follows.
Bronze award
You must have formed a stamp collection over a period of at least six months. You must give a short 2-minute talk on at least 4 pages from your collection and answer simple questions on the pages shown and on general philately. You must know how to remove stamps from paper and be able to mount stamps correctly.
Silver bronze award
You must have been collecting stamps for at least 12 months and have obtained the PYC Bronze Achievement Award. You will need an 8-page display that has received a mark of 60% or more in a society or inter-club competition and will have seven days to answer a written question paper of ten questions. A pass rate of 60% is required. You will give a five-minute talk on the display and be able to demonstrate an understanding of how to detect watermarks and measure perforations.
Silver award
You must have been collecting stamps for at least 2 years and have obtained the PYC Silver Bronze Achievement Award. You will need a display of at least 16 pages that has won an Emerald Award in an approved exhibition and will have to give a 5 – 10 minute talk on this display and answer questions. You will have seven days to answer, without help, 20 written questions on specialised philately. A pass rate of 75% is required. You will have to show that you know how to use a stamp catalogue.
Gold award
You must have been collecting stamps for at least 4 years and have obtained the PYC Silver Achievement Award. You will need a display of at least 32 pages that has won a New Zealand National Exhibition Silver medal and will have to give a 15-20 minute talk on this display and answer questions. You will have seven days to answer, without help, 25 written questions on philatelic terms. A pass rate of 75% is required.
You will have to write an essay of at least 300 words on one of the following: traditional philately, thematic collecting, postal history or postal stationery and must define the three subjects not chosen.
Application forms
Write to:
PYC Achievement Awards
PO Box 2979
Shortland Street
Auckland 1140
Give your name, age, address, the Award you want to obtain and the name and address of the person you would like to be your assessor.
Remember a stamp club leader who has been approved by the Philatelic Youth Council must assess the Silver-Bronze and Silver Awards. A New Zealand National Judge, approved by the Philatelic Youth Council must assess the Gold Award.
An application form for the Bronze Award is available online.