The Germany Philatelic Society will be having its National Meeting at the Great American Stamp Show (GASS)  in Hartford, CT, August 15-18, 2024. We will be giving out our usual National exhibiting awards at this show. But there will be differences. The American Philatelic Society now has a strict rule of no more than two awards per society as part of the show. We will thus not be able to give out all of our awards at the show awards ceremony. However, we will be able to give out awards at our General Membership Meeting at GASS. To do this we need help from our members and specifically our exhibitors.

All GPS exhibitors who wish to be eligible for the GPS National awards at GASS must first submit the usual entry form for the show to the APS. Information on entries may be found at https://stamps.org/great-american-stamp-show/exhibitor-information. Then, you must pre-register your exhibit with Ken Gilbert, the GPS Convention Awards Chair, at conventions@germanyphilatelicsocietyusa.org. Pre-registration will be used to create a list of eligible exhibits for GPS awards.

You must be a member in good standing to receive any GPS award. Those awards are the President’s Grand Award (GPS Grand Award), the Chris Hunt Award (GPS Reserve Grand Award), the GPS One Frame Grand Award, and the Herman L. Halle Research Award for Best Exhibit Research. A minimum of three exhibits is required to give any specific award. There are also GPS medals equal to the level awarded at the show. You do not have to be present to receive one of the top four awards. You MUST be present at the General Meeting to receive a medal. We will not mail medals. As of February 29th, entries for one frame exhibits for the Stamp Show and the National Topical Stamp Show sections are full (AmeriCover, the First Day Cover section, is still open). There was only one possible qualifying exhibit at that time, so we likely will not be awarding a One-Frame Grand this year.

Again, in order to receive any GPS Award, you must first submit an entry for GASS and then pre-register your exhibit at conventions@germanyphilatelicsocietyusa.org. APS has stated that entries for GASS will close May 3, unless the limit is reached before that date. Note: the GPS does not submit entries to the show. That is up to the exhibitor. The pre-registration deadline will be May 15, so that we can get the information to the show jury. You will not be able to do this at the show. German exhibits at the show that have not been pre-registered will be ineligible for GPS awards.

A very special presentation by Christopher Kolker MD, Editor of The Third Reich Study Group Bulletin

Germany Philatelic Society – 1940- Philately Shows the World a Year of Destruction

Mar 17, 2024, 8:00 – 9:30 PM (America/New_York)

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The American Philatelic Society’s Great American Stamp Show, In Hartford, Connecticut, from August 15 to August 18 will also host the Germany Philatelic Society’s Annual Meeting. The location is the Connecticut Convention Center, Hall AB, 100 Columbus Blvd., Hartford, CT 06103.

The host hotel has been announced and reservations are open: Hartford Marriott Downtown 200 Columbus Blvd., Hartford, CT 06103. $159 — Single and double. Reservations can be made on line at the APS website or by calling the Marriott reservation number at 888-236-2427 and specify that you are making a reservation for the AMERICAN PHILATELIC SOCIETY block. It is recommended to book as soon as possible.

Exhibit forms are now available for both the philatelic and literature exhibitions. Exhibits may be  entered in one of three sub-shows: National Topical Stamp Show, Americover, and APS Stamp Show. Get your entries in as soon as possible. GPS will have the following philatelic exhibiting awards: GPS large medals as per the show medal level awarded; the President’s Grand Award (GPS Grand Award) [GPS Members Only]; the Chris Hunt Award (GPS Reserve Grand Award); GPS One Frame Grand Award; and the Herman L. Halle Research Award Best Exhibit Research. We will also award the George A. Blizil Memorial Award, the annual award for the best article published in the German Postal Specialist in the preceding year at our General Membership Meeting.

We will have a Society table at the show. We hope to have a hospitality room—details to be determined. We plan to hold some talks and seminars. If you would like to give a talk, please contact us {put contact info here} as soon as possible. Once that part of the show opens up for scheduling, slots will go fast. We will have a board meeting and we will have our annual general membership meetings, where members will be able to meet the boar members and ask questions. The Blizel award will be given there as well as any 25 and 50 year membership awards.