Philatelic Youth Council (PYC) New Zealand - Youth Philately

PYC Achievement Awards

One of the areas that PYC supports and promotes strongly, through local junior stamp clubs, is achievement awards. These achievement awards are designed to develop the understanding for youth philatelists from a basic to an advanced level of their philatelic understanding and competency. There are four levels of PYC achievement that can be obtained:

Bronze award

You must have formed a stamp collection over a period of at least six months. You must give a short 2-minute talk on at least 4 pages from your collection and answer simple questions on the pages shown and on general philately. You must know how to remove stamps from paper and be able to mount stamps correctly.

Silver bronze award

You must have been collecting stamps for at least 12 months and have obtained the PYC Bronze Achievement Award. You will need an 8-page display that has received a mark of 60% or more in a society or inter-club competition and will have seven days to answer a written question paper of ten questions. A pass rate of 60% is required. You will give a five-minute talk on the display and be able to demonstrate an understanding of how to detect watermarks and measure perforations.

Silver award

You must have been collecting stamps for at least 2 years and have obtained the PYC Silver Bronze Achievement Award. You will need a display of at least 16 pages that has won an Emerald Award in an approved exhibition and will have to give a 5 – 10 minute talk on this display and answer questions. You will have seven days to answer, without help, 20 written questions on specialised philately. A pass rate of 75% is required. You will have to show that you know how to use a stamp catalogue.

Gold award

You must have been collecting stamps for at least 4 years and have obtained the PYC Silver Achievement Award. You will need a display of at least 32 pages that has won a New Zealand National Exhibition Silver medal and will have to give a 15-20 minute talk on this display and answer questions. You will have seven days to answer, without help, 25 written questions on philatelic terms. A pass rate of 75% is required.

You will have to write an essay of at least 300 words on one of the following: traditional philately, thematic collecting, postal history or postal stationery and must define the three subjects not chosen.