RPG Annual Convention – 2018Guide to Postal Displays
Give it a go!
If you don’t expect to get to the RPG Annual Convention this year, why not try your hand at a Postal Display? You never know, you might just end up being the 2018 winner of the magnificent Ewen Trophy (left)!
Postal Displays – The Rules
There are no rules as such, just guidelines (below)! Well, perhaps there is one rule: Postal Displays should only be sent in by members who don’t expect to be at the 2018 Annual Convention.
Entries
- Entry is free.
- Your Postal Display should be sent by post to the 2018 Convention Coordinator:
Iain Wells, 9 Mill Lane, Bentley Heath, Solihull, B93 8PA - Postal Display entries should be posted no later than 31 May 2018.
The Basics
- A Postal Display should consist of from 12 to 20 single-sided A4 sheets. These may, if you wish, be inserted into clear A4 polythene sleeves.
- The choice of subject is up to you, but should broadly be about some feature(s) of the railway postal system. As a guide, any subject – or variation thereof – which is illustrated somewhere on this website would be acceptable.
- The display should in some way tell a story about your chosen subject.
- The first page of your display should give an overview of what the display is about, and should include your name.
- To prevent pages getting mixed up, all pages should be sequentially numbered.
- The display should consist of illustrations plus explanatory text.
- To guard against the loss of members’ items, no original material should be sent in with Postal Displays. The display sheets should contain only text with photos, photocopies or printed images of items. The RPG cannot be responsible for members’ original material.
Helpful Suggestions
- Coloured illustrations or images tend to enhance a display.
- Each illustration should be accompanied by some explanatory text (though this text could be brief, and might in some cases be just a simple label to identify the illustration).
- It is usually better not to have a page completely full of images and text – some ‘white space’ helps to set off the images better.
- The display should follow some kind of story about the subject.
The Judging
Postal Displays are not intended to be highly competitive. However, a panel of RPG ‘experts’ will view all Postal Displays and pick the one they like the best!
Unlike formal competition displays, there are no specific judging criteria for Postal Displays. However, the judges will be asking themselves questions such as:
- Is the display factually correct?
- Does it tell the story effectively?
- How interesting is the display?
- Is the display attractively laid out?
Judges’ observations will not be published but, if you request it, you can be sent a summary of the judges’ comments.
We will endeavour to display all Postal Displays at the Annual Convention. Extracts from selected Postal Displays will be featured in Railway Philately and on the RPG web site.
If you wish to have your Postal Display returned after the Convention, please enclose a stamped and addressed envelope for it to be returned in.
The ‘Winner’
The ‘winner’ will be awarded the Ewen Trophy. We know we put a picture at the top of the page … but have another look at it … you could win it! Your name could be inscribed on the Ewen Trophy as the 2018 winner!
Please note however that, because of the possible risks attached to sending the trophy out by post (and back, at the end of the year) the Ewen Trophy itself may be retained by the RPG, but displayed at the next year’s Convention with the winner’s name inscribed on it.
The winner will however receive a small inscribed trophy to keep.
Postal Displays and the RPG web site
A summary of the results of the Postal Display competition will be posted on the RPG web site, along with a selection of pages from some of the entries.As with ‘live’ displays presented at the Annual Convention, the contents of Postal Displays may also be used to expand or enhance existing pages of the RPG web site.