Indian Participation in World stamp Championship Israel - 2008
- Report by Ajay Kumar Mittal, National Commissioner

World Stamp Championship ISRAEL-2008 held at Tel Aviv, Israel during May 14-21, 2008 and was organized by the Israel Philatelic Federation in cooperation with the Israel Post Ltd. and its Philatelic Service under the patronage of Federation Internationale de Philatelie - FIP. It was 2nd time when a World Stamp Championship was organized. First time it was held in Singapore.

The International Jury, Israel-2008

There were 27 entries in WSC class out of which 6 entries were short listed for voting by the Jury members and finally Mr. Luis Alemany of Spain was voted as 2nd World Stamp Champion for his collection “Brazil Bulls Eye”. Mr. Saverio Imperato of Italy was voted first runner up for his collection ‘Tuscany’ and Mr. Joseph Hackmey of Great Britain was 2nd runner up for his collection ‘Classic Persia’. Grand Prix d’ Honneur was given to Mr. Joseph Hackmey of Great Britain for his collection ‘France First Issue’.
The Children corner of the exhibition was always full of enthusiasm and thousands of children of all ages attended the painting and quiz competitions. Quiz competitions were well organized with help of multimedia presentation on regular intervals on all the days. These programmes were supported with lots of gifts and prizes.

National Commissioners, Israel - 2008

Two seminars were organised Aiming at the potential Jurors and those Jurors who are interested in cross-accreditation in Philatelic Literature and Thematic Philately. Mr. Francis Kiddle gave presentation on Society Journals and FIP Judgements and Mr. Bernard Jimenez gave presentation on Thematic Philately: Judging methodology and Jurors/exhibitors education. Nicos Rangos of Cyprus gave his presentation on present FIP Guidelines for Judging Maximaphily exhibits. All of the above seminars were well attended by philatelists.

From India 28 entries were applied for participation in this exhibition. Out of those the exhibition authorities accepted 17 entries. Later on 2 exhibitors withdrew their entries due to their own reasons. Finally Indian participation in the above exhibition was 15. There were 5 entries in Traditional Class, 2 entries in thematic, 1 in revenue, 6 in Literature class and 1 entry in one frame exhibit class.

Special Award by Philatelic Congress of India

Two entries were transferred to Special Studies Class from traditional class by the Jury. One entry of literature class was judged ‘Out of Date’ as year of publication mentioned in the book was 2002. Another entry of Literature class ‘Stamps Today’ was adjudged incomplete entry as they received incomplete volume of his magazine. Final result on Indian participation was 2 Large Vermeil Medals, 6 Vermeil Medals, 2 Silver Medals and 1 Silver Bronze Medal. A Special Award by Philatelic Congress of India which was Awarded to Mr. Santiago Cruz of Colombia on his collection of Aerophilately titled ‘The Valiente Scadta issue’. Mr. Ajeet Singhee, Vice President Philatelic Congress of India was appointed as Jury from India. Past President of PCI Mr. M.G. Pittie was appointed as the Jury from Israel Quota of Jury and was also appointed as the Vice President of Jury Committee.
These World Exhibitions are best place for exposure to modern International trends in Philately and dissemination of knowledge. The exhibition was a great success.
The detailed result of Indian participation is given below:
First Name
Surname
Class
Title
Frames Allotted
Result
Marks

Ajay Kumar
Mittal
Traditional
Indore
8
Large Vermeil
88

Dhananjay
Desai
Traditional
Soruth (Indian Feudatory State) 1790-1950
8
Large Vermeil
88

Rajan
Jayakar
Revenue
Calcutta Court of Small Causes 1869-1875
5
Vermeil
82

Dinesh Chandra
Sharma
Thematic
Summer Olympic Games
5
Vermeil
82

Pragya
Kothari
One Frame
Man Measures His Environment
1
Vermeil
81

Suketu S.
Jhaveri
Traditional
Indian Telegraphs 1851-1914
5
Vermeil
80

Pradip
Jain
Special Study
My Life is My Message - Mahatma Gandhi
5
Vermeil
80

Pragya
Kothari
Thematic
Grey Goose Wings
5
Vermeil
80

Dinesh Chandra
Sharma
Literature
The History of Olympic Games through Philately
Lit.
Silver
71

Ravi
Bhansali
Special Study
Modifications
5
Silver
70

Surendra
Kotadia
Literature
Indian Inland Post Cards with Advertisement and Slogans
Lit.
Silver Bronze
65
Combined
Surendra
Kotadia
Literature
Indian Airmail Letter Card With Advertisement and Slogans 2007
Lit.