The Literature Commission's Report
of Meeting at Bucharest, Romania 2008

Minutes of the Commission Meeting held in Bucharest, Romania, (Hotel Phoenicia)
27 June 2008 at 0830 hours 
  1. WELCOME

    2. The Chairman, Francis Kiddle, welcomed Delegates, Observers and  Guests. An apology had been received from Bureau Member Osvaldo Mario Giordano (Argentina).

  2. REGISTRATION & APPROVAL OF PROXIES

    3. Delegates and Proxies were duly Registered and APPROVED.

  3. ROLL CALL OF DELEGATES

    4. In attendance 27 Delegates and Proxies:
    Australia Malcolm Groom
    Austria Jaromir Matejka
    Canada Charles Verge
    China Liu Jia Wei
    Costa Rica Enrique Bialikanien
    Cyprus Nicos Rangos
    Finland Ari Muhonen
    Germany Wolfgang Maassen
    Great Britain Francis Kiddle
    Greece Anthony Virvilis
    India – proxy to Thailand Sansern Nilrat
    Italy Bruno Crevati-Selvaggi
    New Zealand Norman Banfield
    Norway Arne Thune-Larsen
    Philippines – proxy to N.Z. Norman Banfield
    Portugal Pedro Vaz Pereira
    Qatar Hussain Al-Ismail
    Singapore Tay Peng Hian
    Slovenia Igor Pirc
    South Africa Emil Minnaar
    Spain – proxy to G.B. Francis Kiddle
    Sweden Eric Hamberg
    Chinese Taipei Michael Ho
    Thailand Sansern Nilrat
    United Arab Emirates Faleh Mubarak Al Malagheeth
    Uruguay Enrique Lewowicz
    U.S.A. Charles Peterson
     
    FIP Board Charles Peterson
     
    Observers included:
    Australia Ian McMahon
    China Li Jie
    Chinese Taipei Michael M H Lin

  4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

    5. The Minutes (including the amendment to item 5 – Canada) of the previous meeting held in Malaga on 12 October 2006 were APPROVED.

  5. REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN

    6. As retiring Chairman, Francis Kiddle paid tribute to the work of Charles Peterson who had been associated with the Literature Commission for 20 years, and especially latterly as the FIP Board Member responsible for this Commission. He also paid tribute to the work done by retiring Bureau Members Osvaldo Giordano (Argentina), and Toke Norby (Denmark) who had been responsible during the past 8 years for the website of around 2000 pages.

  6. ELECTIONS

    7. The following were elected for the period 2008-2012:

    Chairman Anthony Virvilis – Greece
    Secretary Norman Banfield – New Zealand

    Bureau Members:
    Asia Liu Jia Wei – China
    Europe Erik Hamberg – Sweden

    There was no nomination from the Americas.

  7. PRESENTATION OF PROGRAMME FOR 2008-1010

    8. The newly elected Chairman, Anthony Virvilis, confirmed the amount of work done by Charles Peterson and Francis Kiddle. It was a compliment to the quality of their work that the FIP Literature Commission was the only Commission that had not changed its rules for a long time. He advised that he aimed to do his best to keep the same standards of work and reliability. He particularly asked members to answer emails quickly and requested advice of how philatelic literature was progressing in each country.

    Website – he would like to expand this a little more so that the record of past history could be seen, not just included in current magazines. Toke Norby had advised that he could not continue to manage the website and at the same time we were advised that the Danish University hosting it could not serve the Commission any more. It is therefore necessary to find another host and another manager. At the same time we received a request from the British Library to include the contents of the website in its Archives – this had been accepted with gratitude. Further details would be advised to delegates through the Newsletter.

  8. SUGGESTIONS FROM DELEGATES

    9. Email addresses: the Secretary, requested advice of email addresses and also of any changes.

    Countries without a delegate: Mr Crevato-Selvaggi again pointed out that some countries, such as France, produced a lot of good literature but had no delegate on the Commission.

    Bureau Member - Americas: Mr Bialikanien expressed concern that there was no Bureau member from the Americas.

    Websites: Mr Pereira suggested the matter of judging websites should be looked at again.

    Use of FLASH: Mr Tay suggested that use be made of FLASH to provide information on the Literature Commission and answer the question of what it was doing.

    Differences in Medal Awards: Mr Tay advised that big differences in the medals awarded at different exhibitions did not create a good image. One medal level different was acceptable but not more than one. He suggested that before being published, awards should be checked against previous results. 

    Mr Virvilis commented that sometimes a newly published book is favoured by the judges with a high award. However, over time the book is read carefully and when entered in another international exhibition, the judges may evaluate it at a lower level according to its real merits.  For magazines, awards can also change – depending on the various editors and in particular, on the articles contained in the respective year. Mr Tay added that for journals, a bronze or silver-bronze did not mean it was no good.

    Large Gold Medals for Books: Mr Tay suggested that the requirements for a book to earn a Large Gold medal should be published in FLASH.

    Language: Mr Pirc (Slovenia) raised the question of the language in which books were written. Mr Tay replied that one of the four FIP languages was preferable. A one page summary in English was helpful. Mr Virvilis added that this is a big problem for literature written in less widely known languages and the authors of major works need to be convinced that it is advisable to publish their books bilingually. If this cannot be done due to financial reasons, an extensive resume in one of the FIP languages should be added.

The meeting closed at 0945 hours.