Judging Display Division Exhibits
(Revised April 12, 2001)

The Basic Judging Criteria
Display Division exhibits (often called "Open Class" in other countries) may combine philatelic elements with all sorts of non-philatelic items to tell a unified, cohesive story. Display Division should encourage creativity and experimentation. Therefore, judges should use the criteria as guidelines to evaluate the exhibits with some degree of uniformity rather than as hard and fast rules that must be strictly applied.

In the United States, Display Division also incorporates Social Philately (see Social Philately section), defined by the Australian Federation that developed it as "a study of the development of social systems and products derived from the operation of postal systems." In Australia and in other countries, Social Philately exhibits are judged by an elaborate and arguably more restrictive series of criteria. In the United States Social Philately exhibits fall under the umbrella of Display Division and are judged using the Display Division criteria.

Score sheets are provided and should be used when evaluating exhibits in Display Division. One Frame Display exhibits compete in the One Frame Class, but Display score sheets and criteria should be used to evaluate them.

Development of Story (30 points): The material presented should tell and support a story that has breadth, is logical, and is well developed.

Composition of Material Presented (30 points): The exhibit should have a primarily philatelic focus. Non-philatelic material included in the display should enhance the story but not overwhelm it. The material presented and the story blend in such a way as to optimize the looser restrictions of Display Division.

Knowledge and Personal Study (30 points): Information presented in the Display should be accurate and complement the material being shown.

Condition (5 points): Condition of the material shown, whether philatelic or non-philatelic, should be fine in the context of the material being shown.

Presentation (5 points): The Display should be neat and reflect the creator's care.

Bonus Points
Elusive Material (1 point): Awarded to recognize the difficulty of acquisition of certain philatelic material.

Original Research (1 point): Awarded to recognize original philatelic or non-philatelic research about the subject or material presented.

Creativity (1 point): Awarded when exhibit demonstrates a creative approach to the story, choice of supporting text or material, or presentation.

Applying the Criteria
Development of Story Criterion: The story should be well developed, make sense, and flow logically from beginning, through the middle, and to its conclusion. The story need not be philatelic in nature, but the philately should not be lost within the story. Creative approaches to the storyline should not result in deduction of points, provided the objective of this approach is easily understood by the treatment and development. (Example: "Flashbacks," quizzes, first person narrative or other non-standard approaches to telling the story may work well in some exhibits.)

Composition of Material Presented Criterion: The philatelic items should be the primary vehicle by which the story is told, however Display exhibits may incorporate non-philatelic items that will augment and enhance the development of the story being presented. Such material should be justified within the story and not simply added because the exhibitor owns it. (Example: An exhibit about a soldier's battle experiences may contain photographs of him, medals and decorations he received, badges of rank, his honorable discharge papers, contemporary newspaper clippings, and other pertinent ephemera that would enhance the fabric of the story.)

There is no percentage requirement on how much or how little non-philatelic material should be present, nor is there an absolute requirement that philatelic items should be mounted on every page. The guideline is that the philatelic aspects of the exhibit should not be subservient to the non-philatelic elements.

Philatelic material may include items from any of the other Divisions. A bonus point is available to reward exhibits that contain elusive philatelic material (see Bonus Points).

The optimum Display exhibit will blend the philatelic and non-philatelic material seamlessly to complement and tell the story.

Knowledge and Personal Study Criterion: A Display exhibit may demonstrate several areas of knowledge: knowledge of the subject being illustrated, philatelic knowledge, and knowledge of the non-philatelic material and ephemera. The text should be accurate, informative, and convey the information in a clear, concise format. (See Bonus Points for rewarding original research.)

Condition and Presentation Criteria: As described earlier.

Bonus Points
Display Division offers three categories where a bonus point may be awarded. An exhibit may be awarded any or all of the bonuses according to merit in those individual categories. They are:

Elusive Material: One bonus point may be awarded if elusive philatelic material is shown. Note that Display exhibits need not show scarce or rare philatelic material, but if an exhibit does contain such material that goes beyond what may commonly be expected to be shown for the story being told, then awarding this bonus point is appropriate.

Original Research: A Display exhibit need not augment its story with original research, but this bonus point could be awarded if the exhibit indicates additional research or new conclusions about the subject, philatelic material, or non-philatelic material. One bonus point is available.

Creativity: Creativity may be evidenced in several ways: how the story is presented, the type or manner in which non-philatelic material is introduced into the exhibit, the way the supporting text is written. One bonus point is available to reward a creative approach to the Display exhibit.

Social Philately
Social Philately is an area of exhibiting that was introduced by Australia and has achieved some acceptance internationally. The criteria by which these exhibits are judged in other countries are far more stringent than the guidelines outlined above for evaluating Display exhibits. The United States has decided to use Display Division criteria for evaluating Social Philately exhibits.

Exhibitors who wish to show their Social Philately exhibits internationally should be aware that restrictive standards of evaluation will be used to judge them elsewhere. In such instances, any non-philatelic material included in the Social Philately exhibit must have an intimate connection with the operation or the objective of a postal system, or the paraphernalia of postage stamps and philately that is included in the exhibit. Internationally, Social Philately is judged using the following criteria:
Treatment and Importance (30 points)
Philatelic and Related Social Knowledge, Personal Study and Research (35 points)
Condition and Rarity (30 points)
Presentation (5 points)

Note: The above is given for informational purposes ONLY. Display Division criteria are to be used to evaluate Social Philately exhibits within the United States.