„A specialized world stamp exhibition, with FIP Patronage and FEPA Recognition, celebrating the 160th anniversary of the Sitting Helvetia, the first perforate Swiss stamp and the first to bear the appellation Helvetia, still used today. Organized by the Swiss Federation of Philatelic Societies in cooperation with the Philatelic Society of Lugano.
The exhibition will be held at Padiglione Conza, Lugano’s fairground and convention centre, which has space for approximately 2’000 exhibition frames. The competition classes will be: World Stamp Championship, Traditional, Postal History, Postal Stationery, Aerophilately, Thematic, Literature, One Frame.
The AIJP (Association internationale des journalistes philatéliques) and AEP (Académie européenne de philatélie) have also granted patronage to HELVETIA 2022. The Organizing Committee will make all reasonable efforts to secure simplified customs procedures for exhibits to enter Switzerland.
IREX – Literature Class (class 7)
Philatelic Literature
A – Philatelic books and research papers (Published after 1st January 2017)
B – Philatelic magazines and periodicals (Published after 1st January 2020)
C – Catalogues (Published after 1st January 2020)
Literature Class are requested to fill in the separate “Philatelic Literature Exhibit Information Form” in addition to the “Exhibit Application Form”. Electronic Exhibit Application Forms duly filled shall be submitted, together with a copy of the introductory page, in one of the FIP’s official languages, through the National Commissioners to the Commissioner General no later than 30 September 2021.
9.3 The participation fee for Philatelic Literature (Class 7) is CHF 100 per exhibit.
10.7 Exhibitors in the Philatelic Literature Class (Class 7A, 7B and 7C) must send one copy of each title or volume no later than by 31 January 2022 in order that preliminary judging may take place. None of these copies are returnable. Periodicals may be exhibited as a complete volume only. The exhibits will be kept by the Federation of Swiss Philatelic Societies.“
These are the official announcements on the exhibition’s website. When the AIJP awarded its patronage, it was not yet aware of the IREX. Otherwise we might have thought about it. After all, two points are striking: firstly, digital literature is not permitted, even in the case of printed literature only three traditional subclasses are listed. Secondly, the exhibit fee of CHF 100 is horrendously high, the highest ever, because the normal fee for 1 frame of a multi-frame exhibit is only CHF 80! In the past, this would have merited the AIJP’s red light, but in times of Corona and the problems of the organisers that we are aware of, we refrain from doing so.
The early closing and submission dates are also striking. It may well be that in the land of precision clockwork the clocks go slower, but in our opinion the event is not doing itself any favours. It will be interesting to see how many exhibitors are willing to display literature. We already know that a number of associations have decided not to participate in view of such conditions. Regrettable, it could have been better. The same applies to the media work, which, as far as we know, hardly takes place.
